Submitted:
18 September 2024
Posted:
18 September 2024
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Abstract
This bibliometric study analysed breast cancer research trends and outputs from 2014 to 1 2023, utilising data from the Scopus database. The primary objectives include analysing publication 2 growth, citation metrics, document type distribution, leading countries, preferred journals and 3 authorship patterns. The study reveals a significant increase in breast cancer research publications, 4 with a total of 12,073 documents and 216,769 citations over the ten-year period. The United States 5 leads in publication output and citation impact, followed by China and Japan. Articles are the 6 predominant document type for total 73.4% of publications, while reviews and book chapters also 7 contribute notably. The most preferred journals for publishing breast cancer research include Breast 8 Cancer Research and Treatment, Clinical Breast Cancer, and Breast Cancer Research. Authorship 9 patterns show a trend towards multi-authored papers, with a substantial number of papers having 10 more than five authors. The study underscores the global collaborative effort in advancing breast 11 cancer research and highlights key areas for future exploration.
Keywords:
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Objective
- To Analyse the publications growth on breast cancer research from 2014 to 2023.
- To Study the average number of citations per article and the total citations per year.
- To study the distribution of different types of documents (articles, reviews, book chapters, etc.) published in the field of breast cancer research.
- To identify the leading countries in breast cancer research based on publication output and citation impact.
- To Determine the most preferred journals for publishing breast cancer research.
- To Study the patterns of authorship, including the number of authors per paper.
4. Methodology
4.1. Data Analysis and Interpretation
5. Publication Growth
| Y ear |
Total Publication |
MeanTCper- Art |
MeanTCperYear | Citable Years |
Total Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1097 | 32.49 | 2.95 | 11 | 35644 |
| 2015 | 1036 | 29.79 | 2.98 | 10 | 30867 |
| 2016 | 1042 | 26.03 | 2.89 | 9 | 27127 |
| 2017 | 1169 | 24.17 | 3.02 | 8 | 28256 |
| 2018 | 1194 | 23.95 | 3.42 | 7 | 28593 |
| 2019 | 1162 | 20.97 | 3.49 | 6 | 24367 |
| 2020 | 1319 | 14.25 | 2.85 | 5 | 18790 |
| 2021 | 1478 | 9.12 | 2.28 | 4 | 13479 |
| 2022 | 1321 | 5.3 | 1.77 | 3 | 7003 |
| 2023 | 1255 | 2.11 | 1.05 | 2 | 2643 |
| Total | 12073 | 216769 |
6. Document Wise Distribution
| DOCUMENT TYPE | Total Publication | Total Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Article | 8864 | 171705 |
| Review | 1396 | 41237 |
| Book Chapter | 911 | 656 |
| Letter | 325 | 783 |
| Erratum | 261 | 213 |
| Editorial | 137 | 805 |
| Note | 77 | 495 |
| Book | 67 | 262 |
| Conference Paper | 27 | 439 |
| Retracted | 7 | 167 |
| Short Survey | 1 | 7 |
| Total | 12073 | 216769 |
7. Geographic Collaboration
8. Journal Preferred
| Sr No | Country | Total Publication | Total Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 4903 | 71092 |
| 2 | China | 1122 | 15746 |
| 3 | Japan | 1009 | 10303 |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 940 | 10834 |
| 5 | Italy | 769 | 7929 |
| 6 | South Korea | 740 | 8494 |
| 7 | Canada | 693 | 7636 |
| 8 | Germany | 545 | 5702 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 501 | 6936 |
| 10 | Australia | 433 | 5201 |
| 11 | France | 430 | 3763 |
| 12 | India | 382 | 2057 |
| 13 | Spain | 363 | 2851 |
| 14 | Sweden | 311 | 3068 |
| 15 | Belgium | 285 | 2542 |

9. Broadford Law
|
Rank No 1 |
Name Of The Journal Breast Cancer Research |
TP 4277 |
Publisher Springer |
Coun- try Nether- |
Impact Factor 4.514 |
| And Treatment | lands | ||||
| 2 | Clinical Breast Cancer | 1463 | Elsevier | USA | 2.972 |
| 3 | Breast Cancer Research | 1419 | BioMed Central | UK | 5.897 |
| 4 | Breast Cancer | 1141 | Springer Japan | Japan | 2.746 |
| 5 | Npj Breast Cancer | 636 | Nature Publishing | UK | 8.189 |
| Group | |||||
| 6 | Journal Of Breast Cancer | 586 | Korean Breast Cancer | South | 1.618 |
| Society | Korea | ||||
| 7 | Breast Cancer: Targets | 409 | Dove Medical Press | UK | 3.146 |
| And Therapy | |||||
| 8 | Current Breast Cancer | 379 | Springer | USA | 2 |
| Reports | |||||
| 9 | Archives Of Breast Cancer | 238 | Tabriz University of | Iran | 0.789 |
| Medical Sciences | |||||
| 10 | Breast Cancer: Basic And | 234 | SAGE Publications | UK | 1.676 |
| Clinical Research |
| Sr No |
Name of the Journal | Rank | Freq | cum- Freq |
Zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BREAST CANCER RESEARCH AND | 1 | 4277 | 4277 | Zone |
| TREATMENT | 1 | ||||
| 2 | CLINICAL BREAST CANCER | 2 | 1463 | 5740 | Zone |
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | BREAST CANCER RESEARCH | 3 | 1419 | 7159 | Zone |
| 2 | |||||
| 4 | BREAST CANCER | 4 | 1141 | 8300 | Zone |
| 2 | |||||
| 5 | NPJ BREAST CANCER | 5 | 636 | 8936 | Zone |
| 3 | |||||
| 6 | JOURNAL OF BREAST CANCER | 6 | 586 | 9522 | Zone |
| 3 | |||||
| 7 | BREAST CANCER: TARGETS AND THERAPY | 7 | 409 | 9931 | Zone |
| 3 | |||||
| 8 | CURRENT BREAST CANCER REPORTS | 8 | 379 | 10310 | Zone |
| 3 | |||||
| 9 | ARCHIVES OF BREAST CANCER | 9 | 238 | 10548 | Zone |
| 3 | |||||
| 10 | BREAST CANCER: BASIC AND CLINICAL | 10 | 234 | 10782 | Zone |
| RESEARCH | 3 |
10. Author Productivity
| Rank | Authors | Articles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WANG Y | 122 |
| 2 | WANG X | 104 |
| 3 | LI Y | 102 |
| 4 | LIU Y | 95 |
| 5 | LI J | 94 |
| 6 | LI X | 86 |
| 7 | WANG J | 85 |
| 8 | IWATA H | 82 |
| 9 | ZHANG Y | 80 |
| 10 | LEE JE | 79 |
11. Lotka’s Law
| Documents written | N. of Authors | Proportion of Authors |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31422 | 0.672 |
| 2 | 6899 | 0.148 |
| 3 | 2866 | 0.061 |
| 4 | 1633 | 0.035 |
| 5 | 938 | 0.02 |
| 6 | 598 | 0.013 |
| 7 | 438 | 0.009 |
| 8 | 315 | 0.007 |
| 9 | 260 | 0.006 |
| 10 | 231 | 005 |
12. Authorship Pattern
|
Sr. No. 1 |
No of Authors Single Author |
No. of Authors 631 |
| 2 | Two Author | 967 |
| 3 | Three Author | 961 |
| 4 | Four Author | 922 |
| 5 | Five Author | 1053 |
| 6 | Six Author | 1064 |
| 7 | Seven Author | 1027 |
| 8 | Eight Author | 951 |
| 9 | Nine Author | 826 |
| 10 | Ten Author | 677 |
| 11 | Eleven Author | 550 |
| 12 | Twelve Author | 444 |
| 13 | Thirteen Author | 328 |
| 14 | Fourteen Author | 310 |
| 15 | Fifteen Author | 227 |
| 16 | Sixteen Author | 178 |
| 17 | Seventeen Author | 140 |
| 18 | Eighteen Author | 130 |
| 19 | Nineteen Author | 106 |
| Twenty authors above | 529 |

13. Result, Finding & Discussion
- The results indicate that although the number of publications in breast cancer research has generally increased over the past decade, the average number of citations per article has decreased. This trend may be due to a number of factors, including repetition of publications, changes in the focus of research, or the broader scientific publishing landscape. The data highlight the importance of time in the accumulation of references and suggest that recent publications should be monitored over the coming years to fully understand their impact.
- This analysis shows that articles and reviews are the main document types in breast cancer research, both in terms of publication volume and citation impact. Other document types such as book chapters, letters and editorials also contribute significantly but to a lesser extent. The presence of errors and retracted papers underscores the ongoing process of scientific improvement and integrity. Overall, these data highlight the variety of formats through which breast cancer research is communicated and the varying levels of impact each format has on the academic community.
- Country collaboration European countries collectively show strong participation, and Asian countries are emerging as important contributors. This analysis highlights the importance of international collaboration and the differential impact of research results in different regions.
- The results of preferred journals highlight that breast cancer research is widely disseminated in various prestigious journals with different impact factors and publication volumes. N. P. J. Some journals, such as Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Research, have higher impact factors, while other journals, such as Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, have higher publication volume factors, reflecting a balance between the quality and quantity of research dissemination. The geographical distribution of these journals highlights the global nature of breast cancer research, with significant contributions from the US, UK and other countries. This diversity in publication venues facilitates a comprehensive and collaborative approach to advancing breast cancer research.
- An analysis based on Bradford’s law shows that breast cancer research is concentrated in a few core journals, with Breast Cancer Research and Treatment being the most prominent. A second tier of journals also plays an important role, including clinical breast cancer and breast cancer research, while a large number of journals contribute less frequently. This distribution is consistent with Bradford’s law, which suggests a small core of journals publishing most articles and a large number of journals with fewer publications. This information is important for researchers and librarians to identify key journals for breast cancer research and to make informed decisions about journal subscription and research dissemination strategies.
- The dominance of a few prolific authors underscores the critical role of pioneering researchers in advancing breast cancer research. Consistency with Lotka’s law suggests that while many researchers contribute to the field, the bulk of publications come from a small core group. This distribution can affect collaboration patterns, funding allocations, and the dissemination of knowledge within the community. The collaborative nature of this scientific field, dominated by multi-authored research papers, reflects the reliance on teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration to address the complexities of breast cancer.This trend is likely to continue, prompting innovative approaches and comprehensive studies that can significantly advance our understanding and treatment of breast cancer. An exceptional example of a paper with 448 authors symbolizes the extent of collaboration in the field, highlighting the collective efforts to combat this prevalent disease. Lotka’s law states that the majority of authors contribute only one paper, while a small number of highly productive researchers produce multiple publications. This distribution highlights the collaborative nature of breast cancer research, where many researchers contribute to a collective knowledge base. However, it also emphasizes the important role of prolific authors in advancing the field. Understanding these patterns can inform strategies to promote more comprehensive and effective contributions, ultimately increasing research outcomes in the fight against breast cancer.
14. Conclusions
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