World teledermatology productivity in
telemedicine literature: A bibliometric analysis of telemedicine publications
between 1975 and 2016
Type of article: Short communication
Abstract
Background: Teledermatology
is a new medical technology that is increasingly used and accessible with the
development of imaging technologies. The aim of this paper is to perform a
bibliometric analysis of the world productivity in telemedicine field.
Methods: We used the Web
of Science database and included all teledermatology documents published
between 1975 and 2016.
Results: We found a
total of 12,641 items and 7,164 of which were original articles. The USA was
the leading country with 4,342 articles followed by the UK and Germany.
Teledermatology field covered only 6.26% of all telemedicine literature. Herein
we evaluated the world telemedicine productivity between 1975 to 2016.
Conclusion: The use of
teledermatology is more important in rural areas, especially in which access is
difficult. Telemedicine provides the conduction of dermatology applications to
places where it is difficult to reach.
Keywords: telemedicine,
teledermatology, bibliometrics
Corresponding author: SettingsEngin Şenel
Hitit University Beekeeping and Bee Products Application and Research Center,
Çorum, Turkey. email: enginsenel@enginsenel.com
Received: June 02,
2018, Accepted: 20 June, 2018, English editing: 20 June, 2018, Published: 27 June, 2018.
Screened
by iThenticate.©2017-2018 KNOWLEDGE KINGDOM PUBLISHING.
1. Introduction
Teledermatology is a technique for evaluating patient information and
documents through communication technology. Teledermatology is one of the most
rapidly-developing branches of telemedicine technology. Telemedicine is
especially important for the evaluation of patients and diseases in developing
countries and rural areas that are difficult to reach.1 Telemedicine reduces
treatment costs and follow-up visits and shortens the waiting period.2 In this
study, it was aimed to make a bibliometric analysis of telemedicine
publications published between 1975 and 2016.
2. Methods
Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS; Thomson Reuters, New York, NY, USA)
database was used to investigate telemedicine publications. All items published
in 2017 were excluded. The statistical analysis of the publications published
between 1975 and 2016 was performed. Regression analysis was performed for the
statistical assessment. Correlation was evaluated and finalized by Spearman
test since data were not normally distributed. Publications reported from
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland were included under the United
Kingdom (UK) heading.
3. Results
As the telemedicine keyword was used, 12641 documents published between
1975 and 2016 were detected in the WoS database. 7164 of these documents (54%)
were full-text articles followed by proceeding papers (n=3446, 26%), meeting
abstracts (n=870, 6.9%) and reviews (n=761, 6%) (Figure 1).
When the top ten publishing countries were ranked, the United States of
America (USA) ranked first in the telemedicine field with 4342 publications and
34.3% of the world production. The USA was followed by the UK (6.8%), Germany
(6%) and Australia (5.4%) (Figure 2). According to the publication numbers of
the last ten years, 2016 was found to be the most document-published year with 1087
items (Figure 3). Between 2015 and 2016, the country with the highest number of
publications was the US, again (n=781). However, Australia ranked second
(n=157) followed by India (n=134), the UK (n=132) and Italy (n=110) (Figure 4).
We found 791 teledermatology publications between 1976 to 2016.
Teledermatology literature was detected to cover only 6.26 % of all
telemedicine field. The USA ranked first in teledermatology literature with 312
documents.
4. Discussion
In 2014, we reported an evaluation of world productivity in telemedicine
field between 1980 to 2013. The USA ranked first covered 33.8% of world
telemedicine publications with 3204 papers followed by the UK and Germany. We
found the most productive countries were Cyprus (30.03), Norway (28.19),
Australia (19.61), and Greece (18.31).3
We calculated the productivity scores of the countries by a simple
formula (production numbers/population x 1,000,000) used in previous studies.4
Our study has one limitation. Our search included only WoS database
because it is the most reliable data service for publications and citations.
While telemedicine is more important for developing countries and rural
settlements that are hard to reach, telemedicine was found to be published more
frequently in developed countries such as the USA, Germany, Australia and the
UK than these regions. Dermatologists in undeveloped and developing countries
should be supported and encouraged to produce teledermatology publications
since only 6.26 % of telemedicine literature is included in teledermatology
field.
5. Figures
Figure 1.
Distribution of telemedicine publication types
Figure 2.
Top ten countries in telemedicine field by total number of publications between
1975 and 2016
Figure 3. Last ten
years with telemedicine publication numbers
Figure 4. Top ten countries in telemedicine field by
total number of publications between 2015 and 2016
6. Conflict of intereststatement
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
7. Authors’ biography
No Biography
8. References
[1] Senel E. History of teledermatology: a
technique of the future in dermatology.Skinmed 2010; 8:167–70.PMid:21137623
[2] Senel E. Use of blogging in
telemedicine: introduction to an Internet-based teledermatology application.Skinmed;
13:152–3.PMid:26137746
[3] Şenel E, Demir E. A global
productivity and bibliometric analysis of telemedicine and
teledermatologypublication trends during 1980-2013.Dermatologica Sin 2015;
33:16–20.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsi.2014.10.003
[4] Moser PL, Hauffe H, Lorenz IH, et al. Publication output in telemedicine during
the period January 1964 to July 2003. J Telemed Telecare 2004; 10:72–7.https://doi.org/10.1258/135763304773391495PMid:15068641