Holistic Analysis of Cytokine and Cytokine Storm Researches in
Scientific Literature: A Bibliometric Study of the Global Publications
between 1980 and 2018
Abstract
Aim: Bibliometrics has been used for assessing and predicting trends in
macro-health science and medical systems, especially in the field of
cancer. Bibliometric and scientometric studies in the field of cytokines
may guide further research in this field. Cytokines in particular
cytokine storm has recently started to be highly discussed and studied
in global viral infections. In the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, cytokine storm
was seen in many patients. In this study we want to present to perform
bibliometric analysis of articles on cytokine and cytokine storm
published in the academic literature during 1980 to 2018. Methods: The
bibliometric analysis was performed using the Thomson Reuters Web of
Science database. Results: A total of 232,606 articles were retrieved,
82.52% of which were original articles. The United States was the
leading country by total publication number (n=84,426, 36.29%),
followed by Japan (n= 21,983, 9.45%) produced the most literature on
cytokine. Among the institutions identified, Harvard University (USA)
contributed the most articles on cytokine. All authors and institutions
in the top 10 contributor’s lists were from the developed countries.
Conclusions: Researchers from the developing and least-developed
countries should be encouraged to perform novel studies on cytokine.
Cytokine studies are associated with the pathology and physiological
variability of many diseases and may have beneficial results in the
medical field. Cytokine and cytokine storm studies may be particularly
useful in identifying the pathogenesis of global viral infections such
as SARS-CoV-2, evaluating and developing new treatment strategies.