Mapping the scientific research on radiology departments: Global trends in publication, collaboration and trending topics

Abstract

Purpose: To characterize the global research trend in radiology departments based on bibliometric indicators.

Material and method: As a source of information, Science Citation Index Expanded and Journal Citation Reports from Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) were used. Annual trends, journals of publication, subject categories of journals, collaboration indexes between authors and institutions, network of cowords and most cited papers were identified and analysed. The period of study was 2009-2018.

Results: 283,587 downloaded papers were analysed. The number of articles was increasing, as well as the percentage of funded works. Papers were published in 7314 different journals, being the most productive Plos One (5077), followed by American Journal of Roentgenology (4602) and European Radiology (3644). Most productive subject categories of journals were Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging (86,568 papers), Clinical Neurology (29,722) and Surgery (23,564). International collaboration has increased more than 5 points, from 15.2% in 2009 to 20.7% in 2018.

Conclusions: Most cited articles were published in high impact journals outside the scope of diagnostic imaging. Most influential topics included technical innovations within imaging modalities. MRI replaced conventional radiography and CT as the imaging technique of choice in imaging research.

Keywords: Bibliometrics; Diagnostic imaging; Highly cited; Scientific collaboration; Social network analyses; Trending topics.