Carl Jil, Schwarzer Mario, Klingelhoefer Doris, Ohlendorf Daniela, Groneberg David A
Institute for Occupational Medicine, Social Medicine and Environmental Medicine, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
PLoS One. 2014 Nov 19;9(11):e112026. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112026. eCollection 2014.
Curare is one of the best-examined neurotoxins of the world, which has empirically been used for centuries by American Indigenes. Research on curare has been performed much later, a global scientometric analysis on curare research or its derivates does not yet exist. This bibliometric analysis is part of the global NewQis-project and should illuminate both toxic and historic issues of research on curare.
The ISI Web of Science was searched for data covering 1900 to 2013 using a term which included as many original articles on curare as possible. 3,867 articles were found and analyzed for common bibliometric items such as the number of citations, language of the articles or the (modified) Hirsch-Index (h-index). Results are illustrated utilizing modern density equalizing map projections (DEMP) or beam diagrams.
Most publications were located in North America and Europe. The USA has the highest number of publications as well as the highest h-index. The number of publications overall rose until the late 1990s and later decreased. Furthermore, sudden increases of research activity are ascribable to historic events, like the first use of curare as muscle relaxant during surgery.
This scientometric analysis of curare research reflects several tendencies as previously seen in other bibliometric investigations, i.e. the scientific quality standard of North America and Europe. Research on curare decreased however, due to the declining attention towards this muscle relaxant. This work exemplifies also how scientometric methods can be used to illuminate historic circumstances immediately stimulating scientific research.
箭毒是世界上研究最充分的神经毒素之一，美洲原住民几个世纪以来一直在经验性地使用它。对箭毒的研究开展得要晚得多，目前尚无对箭毒研究及其衍生物的全球科学计量分析。这项文献计量分析是全球NewQis项目的一部分，旨在阐明箭毒研究的毒性和历史问题。
在科学网（ISI Web of Science）中搜索1900年至2013年的数据，使用的检索词尽可能涵盖关于箭毒的原始文章。共找到3867篇文章，并对其进行分析，统计常见的文献计量指标，如被引次数、文章语言或（修正后的）赫希指数（h指数）。结果通过现代密度均衡地图投影（DEMP）或柱状图展示。
大多数出版物来自北美和欧洲。美国的出版物数量最多，h指数也最高。总体出版物数量在20世纪90年代末之前呈上升趋势，之后下降。此外，研究活动的突然增加可归因于历史事件，比如箭毒首次在手术中用作肌肉松弛剂。
这项对箭毒研究的科学计量分析反映了一些与其他文献计量调查中所见相同的趋势，即北美和欧洲的科学质量标准。然而，由于对这种肌肉松弛剂的关注度下降，对箭毒的研究减少了。这项工作还例证了如何使用科学计量方法来阐明直接刺激科学研究的历史背景。
