A Bibliometric Analysis of the Literature on Norovirus Disease from 1991–2021

Abstract

Norovirus (NoV) is one of the oldest recognized diseases and the leading causal pathogen for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) worldwide. Though numerous studies have been reported on NoV disease, limited research has explored the publication trends in this area. As a result, the objective of this work was to fill the void by conducting a bibliometric study in publication trends on NoV studies as well as discovering the hotspots. The Web of Science central assemblage database was hunted for publications from 1991 to 2021 with “norovirus” in the heading. Microsoft Excel 2016, VOSviewer, R Bibliometrix, and Biblioshiny packages were deployed for the statistical analysis of published research articles. A total of 6021 published documents were identified in the Web of Science database for this thirty-year study period (1991–2021). The analyses disclosed that the Journal of Medical Virology was the leading journal in publications on norovirus studies with a total of 215 published articles, the Journal of Virology was the most cited document with 11,185 total citations. The United States of America (USA) has the most significant productivity in norovirus publications and is the leading country with the highest international collaboration. Analysis of top germane authors discovered that X. Jiang (135) and J. Vinje (119) were the two top relevant authors of norovirus publications. The commonly recognized funders were US and EU-based, with the US emerging as a top funder. This study reveals trends in scientific findings and academic collaborations and serves as a leading-edge model to reveal trends in global research in the field of norovirus research. This study points out the progress status and trends on NoV research. It can help researchers in the medical profession obtain a comprehensive understanding of the state of the art of NoV. It also has reference values for the research and application of the NoV visualization methods. Further, the research map on AGE obtained by our analysis is expected to help researchers efficiently and effectively explore the NoV field.