Correspondence Address:
Parisa Soltani
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Hezar-Jarib Ave., Isfahan
Iran

Full Text



In the information age, fastest growing internet-based technologies led us to an overwhelming amount of information/data and we faced with new terms such as information overload, infobesity, and infoxication. The number of scientific articles goes beyond 114 million,[1] 2.5 million published each year[2] and global scientific output doubles every nine years,[3] which are popularly known as 21st century science overload. Recent advancements based on network theory allowed us to summarize and visualize complex networks of scientific articles as graphs, known as science mapping.

In this editorial, we aimed to provide an overview of the scientific landscape of 2017 dental literature and making them lively visible and concrete for busy dental researchers and practitioners.

However, on October 12, 2016, we analyzed PubMed data and made a scientific forecast on dental research output within the next 20 years using exponential smoothing algorithm, an advanced machine learning algorithm.[4] According to the forecast, number of 2017 dental articles must be more than 14,000, yet in reality number of article dropped to 7718 which involved only 385 clinical trial and 406 systematic reviews and meta-analysis [Figure 1]. The reasons for this dramatic drop are unclear for us, yet it needs more attention.{Figure 1}

Nevertheless, at 25 May, 2018, PubMed was searched via the query “2017/1/1”[PDAT]: “2017/12/31”[PDAT] AND jsubsetd[text] NOT "2018"[PDAT] to find all 2017 dental articles. PubMed records were visualized through VOSviewer 1.6.6 (http://www.vosviewer.com/, Leiden University’s Centre for Science and Technology Studies).[5] Author keywords were used for science mapping through co-occurrence network analysis. A minimum number of occurrence of a keyword was set at 14 to include in the study. Among 90 keywords which met the threshold, oral health, dental education, and dental caries were the hottest topics among 2017 dental articles [Figure 2].{Figure 2}

Text mining by PubMed PubReMiner,[6] showed UK (788), China (734), USA (701), Brazil (624), and Japan (327) published the most number of articles. At journal level, Journal of Craniofacial Surgery (766), Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (387), American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (244), Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology (210), and British Dental Journal (190) published the most number of articles.

As a final point; dental research directors, research funders and policymaker must analyze pros and cons of 2017 sharp drop in quantity of dental articles. Moreover, with respect to 2017 hotspots [Figure 2], it seems logical to postulate that dental research community must pay extra attention to emerging and groundbreaking issues such as genomic medicine, stem cells, tissue engineering, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, etc.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

References