Anatomical Sciences from a translational perspective: Bibliometric analysis

Abstract

In the field of human morphology, despite its growing interest in translational anatomy research, its contributions are often unknown. Scientific articles and patents are highly reliable sources of knowledge for measuring scientific progress and technology transfer. The aim of this article is a bibliometric study of the potential of anatomical translational research. Our methodological framework has consisted of a combination of the analysis of two variables: 1) academic papers, and 2) patents of anatomical scientific achievements. The established time range has been 2000-2020 and the database used The Lens (https://www.lens.org), establishing “anatomical science” as the keyword. In the systematic analysis, 11,547 scientific documents and 1,511 patent registrations have been carried out; inclusion criteria were applied to both groups to identify their quantitative and qualitative trends. Our results identified that scientific articles on translational anatomical achievements have an exponential growth rate similar to the growth of patent applications for translational anatomical sciences. The maximum number of contributions of journal articles and patents corresponds to the temporal range of 2010 and 2020, with 2020 being the most productive year; academic documents represented 54.90% and patents produced represented 45.08%, which are significant data if they are compared with the year 2000, when the respective percentages were 76.40% and 23.50%, an indicator of a clear increase in the culture of patentability and the growing interest in translational anatomical research. The records of granted patents were 747 and 487 patent applications, which are significant data for the growth of the culture of patentability as well as the quality of the patents, since those granted represent 60.40%. These results identify the strong growth of anatomical science and its interest in the transfer of scientific achievements.