Bibliometric study of AIDS literatures based on Web of Science / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To understand the progress in AIDS/HIV research over the last 10 years through a bibliometric approach. Methods: The literatures were searched in Web of Science citation database (1996-2005) using the following terms "HIV *" or "AIDS" or "human immunodeficiency virus *" or "acquired immune deficiency syndrome". The searching results were analyzed by the Derwent Analytics software concerning the article numbers and the total citations by countries, institutes and authors, and AIDS/HIV magazine distribution, in an effort to discover AIDS/HIV research progress in and outside China in recent years. Results: The annual numbers (about 12 000) of AIDS/HIV articles published in Web of Science had little change from 1996 to 2005. The U. S. played a leading role the AIDS/HIV research in the world; China has made a great progress in AIDS/HIV research in the recent years, but still lagging far behind western countries like the U. S., England, France, Italy, German, etc. The etiology, pathogenesis of AIDS, the HIV coreceptors (CXCR4 and CCR5), and HIV drugs and vaccines were the focuses of AIDS/HIV research in the world in the recent years; meanwhile, the isolation, purification and function of antiviral and antifungal proteins from plants, HIV coreceptors (CXCR4 and CCR5), and APOBEC3G protein were the focuses in China. Conclusion: Due to the worldwide epidemic of AIDS/HIV and the increasing attention from scientists, the prevention and treatment of AIDS/HIV had been a research focus in recent years. The research of AIDS/HIV in China has been progressing rapidly, but still lagging behind its international peers. The research contents and focuses of China are different from the international ones.