Worldwide scientific production in obstetrics: a bibliometric analysis

Background Randomised clinical trials are considered to be the most reliable study design for assessing the efficacy and safety of health interventions. Aims To analyse worldwide obstetrics research carried out through randomised clinical trials, from 2002 to 2013. Methods A bibliometric analysis was performed. Publications on obstetrics that were published journals indexed in the MEDLINE database from 2002 to 2013 were analysed. The major medical subject headings used in the search were obstetrics, pregnancy complications and obstetrics surgical procedures. The main study outcome was index of research productivity. Results Our study search strategy yielded a total of 142,659 articles and 9967 clinical trials. The growth rate of scientific production in obstetrics during this period was 55.43% (n=5094). The growth rate of production of randomised clinical trials in this specialty, meanwhile, was 97.84% (n=544). Most of the identified authors (n=22,622, 71.21%) published only one paper during the study period. Patterns of co-authorship among the 20 most productive authors were identified. After applying Bradford's law, six journals in the nucleus (the most prolific journals) were found. Of all the clinical trials in obstetrics published between 2002 and 2013, 10.3% were published in journals belonging to categories other than Obstetrics and Gynecology. The most common research topic in 2002 and 2013 was the use of analgesia and anesthesia in obstetrics. Conclusions Total scientific production rate in obstetrics increased from 2002 to 2013, especially randomised clinical trials. However, randomised clinical trials continue to represent a small proportion of total production.