A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Articles on Midwifery Based on the Web of Science

Tingting Li,1,&ast; Yilan Zeng,2,&ast; Xianrong Fan,3,&ast; Jing Yang,4 Chengying Yang,4 Qingyun Xiong,5 Ping Liu2 1Department of Science and Education, Changsha Hospital Affiliated to Xiangya Medical College, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Changsha Hospital Affiliated to Xiangya Medical College, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Hospital Office, The Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Yongchuan, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Changsha Hospital Affiliated to Xiangya Medical College, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Ultrasonography, Changsha Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ping Liu, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Changsha Hospital Affiliated to Xiangya Medical College, Central South University, 311 Yingpan Road, Kaifu District, Changsha, Hunan Province, 410005, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 15973136512, Email liuping_3356@126.com Qingyun Xiong, Department of Ultrasonography, Changsha Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 22, Xingsha Avenue, Changsha County, Changsha City, Hunan Province, 410100, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 731-85259000, Email xiongqy1100@21cn.comObjective: This study aimed to bibliometrically analyse the main features of the 100 top-cited articles on the midwifery index on the Web of Science.Methods: Academic articles on midwifery’ research published from 1985 to 2020 were included. VOSviewer 1.6.15, SPSS 22.0 software and a homemade applet were used to identify, analyse and visualise the citation ranking, publication year, journal, country and organisation of origin, authorship, journal impact factor and keywords along with the total link strength of countries, organisations and keywords.Results: Among the 100 top-cited articles, the highest number of citations of the retrieved articles was 484. The median number of citations per year was 5.16 (interquartile range: 3.74– 8.38). Almost two-thirds of the included articles (n = 61) centred on nursing and obstetrics/gynaecology. The top-cited articles were published in 38 different journals, the highest number of which was published by Midwifery (15%). Australia was the most productive country (24%). According to the total link strength, the sequence ran from the United States (28) to England (28) to Australia (19). The University of Technology Sydney and La Trobe University in Australia topped the list with four papers each. Hunter B was the most productive author (n = 4), and the average citations were positively related to the number of authors (r = 0.336, p < 0.05).Conclusion: This study identified the most influential articles on midwifery and documented the core journals and the most productive countries, organisations and authors along with future research hotspots for this field; the findings may be beneficial to researchers in their publication and scientific cooperation endeavours.Keywords: bibliometric analysis, citation, midwifery, total link strength