Mustafa Yılmaz1, Işıl Deniz Alıravcı2, Cemile Uyar1, Emine Kübra Dindar Demiray4, Sevil Alkan5

1Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Kütahya Health Sciences University Evliya Çelebi Training and Research Hospital, Kütahya, Türkiye
2Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Manavgat State Hospital, Antalya, Türkiye
3Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Türkiye
4Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Bitlis State Hospital, Bitlis, Türkiye
5Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale, Türkiye

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis, tularemia, Türkiye.

Abstract

Objectives: We conducted a bibliometric analysis study to determine the sufficiency of the national literature on this disease, which is endemic to our country, and to guide future studies.

Materials and methods: The Turk Medline database was scanned in the study. Publications between January 1999 and December 2020 were searched using the keyword “tularemia”. A total of 101 publications were detected. Reviews and case reports were not included in the study. A total of 40 articles and letters to the editor (including study data) were evaluated. Google Scholar and Google Search engine were used to access the full texts of the articles. Because the full text of five articles was unavailable, they were not included in the content analysis. Articles were evaluated in terms of the year of publication, the institution, the location, the number of authors, the keywords, the sampling, sample size, the number of keywords, the study subject, the number of citations, the language of publication, and the journal which it was published. The social network analysis method was also utilized to define the network structure and examine the connections between structures. For this purpose, UCINET and NetDraw programs were used.

Results: A total of 24 provinces participated in the research. The publications were from 31 different institutions, with the majority being from university hospitals (45%) and the Central Anatolia Region (45%). The majority of studies were carried out on patients (40%). The average number of citations was 4.5±1.13. Two articles got more than 20 citations. Most studies (60%) were conducted between 2010 and 2015.

Conclusion: Tularemia is a zoonotic disease with complex epidemiology. Many aspects of this disease are currently unclear. Studies on these subjects are required since the epidemiological role of animal hosts, potential vectors, maintenance mechanisms in different ecosystems, and the transmission routes of the disease need to be better understood.

Cite this article as: Yılmaz M, Alıravcı ID, Uyar C, Dindar Demiray EK, Alkan S. A bibliometric analysis of tularemia, endemic for Türkiye. D J Med Sci 2022;8(3):108-114.

Data Sharing Statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed equally to the article.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Financial Disclosure

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.