Global Trends on Blastocystis Spp. Research: a Scientometric Study

Abstract

Background: For many years, the classification and pathogenicity of Blastocystis was a subject of debate. The study rational is built on two hypotheses; whether this uncertainty affects the research on Blastocystis spp., and whether regional differences have an impact on diseases prevalence.Objective: The aim of this study is to guide researchers interested in blasticystosis by presenting a bibliometric review of the existing literature on blastocystosis.Material and Methods: The VOSviewer visualization methodology was used. Institutions, nations, international collaborations, journals, articles, authors, keywords, co-authors, co-citations, and citation rates from the WoS database formed the study data. A total of 1192 documents were found in the WoS database, of which 906 original articles were analyzed.Results: The articles were cited 24,065 times in total and the mean Hirsch (H) index was 74. The countries with the highest number of articles were as follows: USA (n = 93; 10.26%), Singapore (n = 79; 8.72%), China (n = 76; 8.39%), and Malaysia (n: 74; 8.17%). During the period from 2000-2013, there were a limited number of articles, while since 2014 there was a minimum of 34 publications per year. The highest number of articles was published in 2021 (n = 87) and the highest number of citations (n=3,485) was in 2021. The leading affiliation according to the number of published articles was the National University of Singapore (8.72%), University Malaya (6.62%), and Nara Women's University (4.64%). The USA, Singapore, China and Malaysia have led scientific production on Blastocystis spp.Conclusion: Due to development of recent molecular technology, the interest in Blastocystis spp. increased as recorded by ample publicatios and cited references. Development of interdisciplinary scientific research networks to include the most productive countries is crucial for Blastocystis related studies.