A Bibliometric Study Of Meta Analysis Literatures By SCI Database From 2004 To 2013

Objective: Meta analysis refers to the statistical methods used in research synthesis that play an important role in clinical research.The present study aims to study the impact of these literatures and analyze the evolution of Meta analysis methods within the medicine field during the ten years,to applicate the Meta analysis methods more correct and reasonable.Thus,to better serve for the medical workers and promote the development of medical cause.Methods: Data from two sources were analyzed: Web of science database and the Journal Citation Report(JCR).The theme of the retrieval was “Meta analysis”,published time was from 2004 to 2013,the document type was “article”,the subject category were such as medicine general internal,oncology,surgery and so on,the date of the retrieval was on May 21,2014.The standard bibliometric indicators(e.g.,number of articles,countries or regions,impact factor,cited frequency and subject category)were applied to these data.SPSS17.0 software was used to statistical analysis and to describe its distribution characteristics.Results:1.The number of articles: a total of 20726 Meta articles were retrieved from SCI database during 2004-2013 and there has been a clear upward trend.The number of Meta analysis articles published in clinical medicine increased from 831 in 2004 to4218 in 2013.A total of 92 countries over six continents had been participated in publishing Meta analysis articles.The top five countries were USA,China,English,German and Canada.The number of Meta analysis articles published in China was onaverage growth rate of 59.92%,well ahead of the other countries.The vast majority of research was actually being carried out by European,closely followed by those in North America,then the Asia.2.The distribution of author cooperation : The total number of authors who contributed to the output set was 150570(including the first author and the co-author),with the mean number of authors per articles being 7.26.The data showed that the articles which had four authors accounting for the largest percentage of 15.05%.It can be seen that over time there an upward trend in the number of authors per article.Further more,the number of Chinese authors per article continued to increase.The mean number was 4.69 in the year of 2004,in 2013,increased by 6.18.However,the number of Chinese authors per article had been lower than the average all the time.3.The distribution of journals: the articles included in the present study were published in a total of 2354 journals.The most productive journal is the MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REPORTS issued by Dutch,a total of 270 articles.The median IF of Meta analysis articles from the SCI database during 2004 to 2013 increased slowly overall,the highest median IF appears in the year of 2010 with 3.356.In addition,the maximum IF of Meta analysis articles is 94.333,which appears in 2010.The percentile IF and the maximum IF of Meta analysis articles published in China are lower than other countries in nearly ten years.4.The distribution of cited frequency: The peak of sum of cited frequency appeared from 2007 to 2010,the article cited most frequently with 2835 and was published in the year of 2005.The highest of mean cited frequency per year of Meta analysis articles was published in 2005.In addition,the mean cited frequency per year and the highest cited frequency of Meta analysis articles published in China in each year was lower than other countries.5.The distribution of subject categories: a total of 59 subject categories in the Meta analysis articles which published in the SCI database from 2004 to 2013.The largest number of articles appeared within oncology,cardiovascular system & cardiology and general & internal medicine.The largest number of Meta analysis articles published inChina appeared in the subject categories of oncology,with 897 articles,accounting for22.92% of the total number of articles published in China.The articles on cardiovascular system & cardiology became a core in other countriesConclusion:The results show that the application of Meta analysis methods has become a hot spot,and the quality of American Meta analysis articles is better.However,there is considerable room for Chinese researchers to improve the quality of Meta analysis articles,and the application of Meta analysis method has yet to be perfected.