Bibliometric Analysis of 6 Major European Neurosurgical Publications from 2011-2020 (part 3): a Comparative Metrics Review.

BACKGROUND

We previously conducted bibliometric analysis of 6 North American neurosurgical journals.

OBJECTIVE

To perform a bibliometric analysis of 6 European neurosurgical journals to build on our previous studies.

METHODS

We searched Web of Science for articles published in , , , , , and between 2011 and 2020. We analyzed bibliometric parameters related to total annual document distribution, author metrics, journal metrics, country and continental distribution, institution, keywords, and journal impact.

RESULTS

European countries provided the greatest contributions. followed by published the greatest number of articles and had the highest h-index and number of citations. From 2018 to 2020, total documents increased 79.6%, original articles increased 86.5%, review articles increased 103.6%, citations increased 79.6%, number of publishing authors increased 72.1%, number of authors in multi-author documents increased 72.4%, and author's keywords and keywords plus increased 72.4% and 27.0%, respectively. The collaboration index decreased 5.3% from 4.49 to 4.25. Annual published documents and citations were lower for European journals versus North American journals.

CONCLUSION

Several parameters of the European journals increased by 2020. One interesting finding is that growth for the 6 journals dramatically increased in the 2 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. While neurosurgeon free time during lockdowns may account for much of the increase in 2020, the trend began before this. Our analysis did not identify a cause for the pre-COVID increases.