Global research on paediatric resuscitation
A total of 3,468 research items on paediatric resuscitation were published between 1900 and 2019. Out of these, 1,896 original articles were identified, that were published by 93 different countries. Notably, there were 26,298 research items on adult resuscitation including 13,749 original articles during the same time period (figure 1, 2). Prior 1960 there was only little research on both paediatric and adult resuscitation (annually less than 10 original articles). Interestingly, a first publication peak was reached in the 1960s with more than 10 annual original articles on paediatric resuscitation compared to 50 articles on resuscitation of adults. During this time period, the most cited articles concerning paediatric resuscitation focused on hyperbaric ventilation10, 11 whereas in the 1980s topics of the highly cited papers addressed estimation of weight during resuscitation of infants in order to adjust for sufficient medication, survival regarding babies of very low birthweight, and identification of risk factors for sudden infant death.12-14 For the first time in 2007, 50 annual articles concerning paediatric resuscitation were published. Annual research interest on resuscitation of adults was constantly higher than on paediatric resuscitation but both
demonstrate a nearly exponential growth (figure 1). Nevertheless, in 2019, 6 times
more articles were published on adult resuscitation, when compared to paediatric resuscitation. A total of 1,106 original articles, respectively 58% of all research on paediatric resuscitation was published during the last decade (2010-2019; figure 3).
Nations publication quantity
The United States is the nation with the highest total number of published original articles, which is more than four times higher than the next-ranked nations Canada and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, Australia, Germany, and Norway belong to the most frequently publishing nations (table 1). The ranking for the highest number of citations is similar with the lead of the United States, followed by Canada, and the United Kingdom as well as Australia, Germany, Norway, and Spain (table 1). Analysis of the all-time modified H-Index again identifies the United States in the front position, followed by Canada, and the United Kingdom, Australia, and Norway. If nations publication quantity over the past decade (2010-2019) is compared to the overall total nations’ quantity, the most publishing countries remain almost unchanged (figure 3). Notably, Tanzania, Poland, and Brazil were among the 20 most publishing nations during the last decade. In order to identify international research clusters, we analyzed the cooperation patterns of the most frequently publishing countries. In this context, the most productive collaborations were between the United States and Canada (figure 4). Additionally, the United States closely cooperated with the United Kingdom, Norway, and Australia. Also, Australia collaborated with the Netherlands. Interestingly, Austria collaborated with Germany and Canada. Detailed heat mapping of international cooperation are depicted in figure 4.
Research on paediatric resuscitation ranked by scientific output
As presented in the SciPE protocol,8 the global research output of the most successful nations was analyzed, by ranking the publication performance under consideration of
the nation’s population, GDP, and infant mortality rates. In these categories, Europe and North America are again the leading continents. As an individual nation, Norway is ranked first regarding population per article, per modified H-Index, per citations, and per GDP, despite relatively low infant mortality rates. Also, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Austria occupied leading positions, in synopsis of all parameters. The overall research performance, as an overview of all calculated ratios, is presented in tables 1 and 2.
Subject Areas
If the allocated Web of Science research categories were analyzed, the 1,896 original articles were allocated to 2,690 research categories. The majority of 30% was allocated to the category paediatrics (801/2,690), followed by emergency medicine with 15% of all items (390/2,690). Other important subject areas were obstetrics gynecology (178/2,690), internal medicine (161/2,690), surgery (102/2,690), anesthesiology (91/2,690), cardiac/ cardiovascular system (76/2,690), public health care (72/2,690), nursing (61/2,690), and peripheral vascular disease (44/2,690). Notably, there were allocations to more than 69 further categories.
Gender analysis of the 100 most frequently publishing authors.
Out of the 5,862 authors listed in Web of Science for paediatric resuscitation, the 100 most frequently publishing authors were identified and analyzed regarding their gender. Of these, 69% were male, 25% were female, and 6% remain unknown.