Geographic Distribution, Number, and Types of Papers Published in International Cytopathology Journals in the Last 5.5 Years: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> The aim of this study was to explore the geographic distribution and number of papers published in international and Science Citation Index (SCI)-indexed cytology journals based on their country of origin. <b><i>Materials and Methods:</i></b> A country-based geographic analysis of studies published over a 5.5-year period from January 2016 to June 2021 in 5 cytopathology journals indexed as SCI and SCI-E with an impact factor higher than 1 (<i>Cancer Cytopathology</i>, <i>Cytopathology</i>, <i>Diagnostic Cytopathology</i>, <i>Acta Cytologica</i>, and <i>CytoJournal</i>) and papers categorized as “original” and “other” was performed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A total of 3,063 papers were found, with 1,466 (47.8%) categorized as “original” papers and 1,597 (52.1%) designated as “other” papers. These papers were submitted from 62 different countries. The five countries with the greatest number of papers were the USA (38.4%), India (16.8%), Japan (7.4%), Italy (5.5%), and Brazil (3.1%). A general subgroup analysis was also performed on the original studies without a country breakdown. Cytomorphological, cytomorphological-immunohistochemical, and molecular assessments compose 38.5%, 45.7%, and 15% of the subgroups, respectively. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The number of academic papers originating from developing countries in the field of cytopathology has increased in recent years. Although most scientific papers are produced in developed countries, the rate in these countries is much lower than that in some developing countries as the rate of academic growth in developed countries has stabilized. Despite the widespread and sophisticated implementation of cytology in daily practice in Western European countries outside the UK, such as Germany and the Netherlands, and in Scandinavian countries and other developed countries, such as Australia and Canada, these countries rank in the middle to lower end of countries producing cytology papers. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in the number of cytology papers published by authors from Southern European countries, such as Italy (ranked 4th) and Spain (ranked 6th), and Turkey (ranked 8th). There is a remarkable increase in cytology papers originating from Asia, particularly India, Japan, and China. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> We aimed to present a basic survey of the geographic distribution of manuscript submissions to high-impact cytopathology journals and to point out emerging trends in cytology utilization and basic research. However, our results show that the landscape of cytology is changing and suggest geographic regions that are ripe for the production of novel “points of view” and new research findings.