Neurological research in Europe, as assessed with a four-year overview of neurological science international journals

This paper analyses all the peer-reviewed articles published by European authors in 161 neurological journals screened by ISI in accordance with Current Contents/Life Science and Current Contents/Clinical Medicine in the period 1995–1998. Our aim was to report the amount and quality of neurological research in the different countries of the European Union (EU), the USA and the world. The number of papers, the impact factors (IF), the population of the source country and gross domestic product (GDP), were downloaded. Data show that in the EU there is a progressive increase in the number of published papers from 1995 to 1998 and that large countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy rank at the top four places for absolute number of papers. The gap in the number of papers between the USA and the EU significantly diminished in the examined period, from a difference of 14 % to 6 %. However, when the IF is considered, the USA performed better than EU, although excellent results have been obtained by the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden. When the number and quality of papers are plotted against the number of inhabitants or GDP, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland are the leading countries in Europe. The present study demonstrates that neurological research in the EU is active and productive, is steadily increasing and is now a relevant part of all biomedical world research. Received: 26 January 2001, Received in revised form: 30 July 2001, Accepted: 3 August 2001     

Scientific publications of European neurologists: a survey commissioned by the European Academy of Neurology

Background and purpose

Bibliometric searches may provide an indirect assessment of research in a field or country. The European Academy of Neurology decided to investigate how article production was developing in European countries, as an indicator of neurological vitality.

Methods

We searched two databases, Scopus and PubMed, for articles published by authors belonging to neurological institutions in all European countries, the USA, Brazil, China and Japan. The search assessed production in the period between 2000 and 2015. We calculated four indicators, i.e. gross neurological product (GNP) (which includes all articles published in any indexed journal), production in top neurological journals, GNP per inhabitant and GNP per gross domestic product.

Results

All indicators greatly increased over time. The European GNP paralleled that of the USA and was higher than those of the other countries. Restricting the search to top neurological journals showed that, since 2012, European production grew faster than that of the USA. Germany had the highest production within Europe, Switzerland had the best ratio between GNP and inhabitants, and The Netherlands had the best ratio between GNP and gross domestic product.

Conclusions

Although this search had several limitations, the results were so straightforward that we can conclude that European neurology is highly active in the world. Future analyses should compare neurology with other main medical disciplines.     

The languages of aphasia research: Bias and diversity

Background: It is widely believed that the vast majority of articles on aphasia published in international journals are based on observations of English-speaking patients, with a possible more general bias towards western European languages. However, to the best of our knowledge no systematic study has tried to quantify linguistic biases in aphasia research.

Aims: To examine the current (first decade of the twenty-first century) representation of different languages in aphasia literature.

Methods & Procedures: We examined all articles on aphasia published between 2000 and 2009 in four leading aphasiological journals: Aphasiology, Brain and Language, Journal of Neurolinguistics, and Language and Cognitive Processes, determining the language(s) spoken by the patients. We compared the proportion of articles in a given language with the estimated number of its speakers worldwide. We further analysed the relationship between the language and the methodology, content, and number of citations as well as trends applying to individual journals and changes over time.

Outcomes & Results: There was a pronounced overall bias towards articles based on observations of English-speaking patients, accounting for 62% of all papers, 85% of papers on aphasia treatment, and 100% of papers that received more than 50 citations. More generally, there was a strong bias towards western European (Germanic and Romance) languages, accounting for 89% of all papers and 96% of treatment studies. In contrast, non-Indo-European languages, as well as the Slavonic and the Indo-European languages of India were strongly under-represented. Some of the most widely spoken languages in the world, such as Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Russian, as well as Portuguese, accounted for less than 0.5% of the aphasia literature. This imbalance has not improved over the examined time period; in fact, the percentage of papers on English seems to be increasing.

Conclusions: The current aphasia literature is not representative of the world's languages, neither in terms of linguistic typology nor the number of speakers. The extreme bias towards English and other western European languages limits the worldwide applicability of clinical findings (in particular in aphasia therapy) and undermines the universality of theoretical models, which are based on observations from a small number of closely related languages. We conclude that development of a more cross-linguistic approach to aphasia should be one of the priorities in future aphasia research.     

Bibliometric Study on Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Literature (1995–2017) Concerning Chemosensory Perception

Introduction

This was the first bibliometric study to investigate the functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) literature on chemosensory perception to reveal who contributed to these publications, where they were published, what concepts were investigated, and their relative impact in terms of citations.

Methods

Web of Science was searched to identify relevant articles. Research areas, authors, contributing countries and territories, journals, and publication years were recorded. The full record and cited references of these articles were used for further bibliometric analyses and network visualization.

Results

The search yielded 5200 unique authors who had contributed to 1660 articles. The authors in the co-authorship network generally had higher numbers of citations per article than those in the periphery did. The 1660 articles were published in 423 journals, and the distribution did not fulfill Bradford’s law. Articles with contributions from European countries and the USA appeared to have more citations on average relative to those from Asian countries.

Conclusions

The contributions came from a diverse spectrum of authors who had published in journals in multiple disciplines. Papers involving the insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and amygdala had accumulated high numbers of total citations. The hedonic aspect of chemosensory perception in particular had received many citations.

Implications

The fMRI literature on chemosensory perception provides substantial neurobiological findings from multiple authors, countries, and journals. These results offer a contemporary overview of the literature and facilitate researchers in identifying relevant papers for future references.

     

Follicle and melanocyte stem cells, and their application in neuroscience A Web of Science-based literature analysis

OBJECTIVE: To identify global research trends of follicle and melanocyte stem cells, and their application in neuroscience. DATA RETRIEVAL: We performed a bibliometric analysis of studies from 2002 to 2011 on follicle and melanocyte stem cells, and their application in neuroscience, which were retrieved from the Web of Science, using the follicle stem cell or melanocyte stem cell, and neural, neuro or nerve. SELECTION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria: (a) peer-reviewed published articles on follicle and melanocyte stem cells, and their application in neuroscience, which were indexed in the Web of Science; (b) original research articles, reviews, meeting abstracts, proceedings papers, book chapters, editorial material, and news items. Exclusion criteria: (a) articles that required manual searching or telephone access; (b) documents that were not published in the public domain; and (c) a number of corrected papers from the total number of articles. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Distribution of publications on follicle and melanocyte stem cells by years, journals, countries, institutions, institutions in China, and most cited papers. (2) Distribution of publications on the application of follicle and melanocyte stem cells in neuroscience by years, journals, countries, institutions, and most cited papers. RESULTS: Of the 348 publications from 2002 to 2011 on follicle and melanocyte stem cells, which were retrieved from the Web of Science, more than half were from American authors and institutes. The most prolific institutions in China for publication of papers on follicle and melanocyte stem cells were the Fourth Military Medical University and Third Military Medical University. The most prolific journals for publication of papers on follicle and melanocyte stem cells were the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research. Of the 63 publications from 2002 to 2011 on the application of follicle and melanocyte stem cells in neuroscience, which were retrieved from the Web of Science, more than half were from American authors and institutes, and no papers were from Chinese authors and institutes. The most prolific journals for publication of papers on the application of follicle and melanocyte stem cells in neuroscience were the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research. CONCLUSION: Based on our analysis of the literature and research trends, we found that follicle stem cells might offer further benefits in neural regenerative medicine.     

The most cited works in Parkinson's disease

The number of citations a work has received is a measure of its impact. We identified the top cited works in Parkinson's disease. A Web of Science search was performed for articles including the keyword “Parkinson*” in the title (the asterisk was included in the search string as a wild card character). Articles with more than 400 citations, the threshold to be considered a “citation classic,” were identified and analyzed. The 107 articles identified appeared in 33 different journals, with clinical articles primarily appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet, and scientific articles primarily in Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. There were 52 laboratory studies, 38 clinical studies, 12 review articles, and 5 classifications of disease. The clinical studies included evaluation of medical and surgical therapies, and the laboratory studies included gene discovery, molecular biology, and cellular biology, as well as animal models and neuropathological studies. High impact topics included deep brain stimulation, levodopa therapy and related adverse effects, MPTP‐based animal studies, discovery and evaluation of genetic mutations, and pathogenesis related to oxidative degeneration. More than half of the articles identified in this study have been published in the past 20 years. Prior to 1990, highly cited articles in Parkinson's disease tended to be those that evaluated medical therapies and defined the clinical and neuropathological characteristics of the disease. Since 1990, a high proportion of the citation classics address the genetic characterization of and surgical treatments for the disease suggesting that these are the most significant recent developments and main drivers of impact in this field. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society     

Consensus guideline for therapeutic drug monitoring in psychiatry (2004): Bibliometric analysis of citations for the period 2004–2011

Objective: To evaluate the awareness of guidelines for the therapeutic monitoring (TDM) of neuropsychiatric drugs by the scientific community, a bibliometric analysis was carried out. Methods: Citations of a guideline for TDM of psychotropic drugs from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmakopsychiatrie (AGNP-TDM) were compared with those of a guideline for TDM of antiepileptic drugs from the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE-TDM), published in Pharmacopsychiatry in 2004 and in Epilepsia in 2008, respectively. Citations for the period 2004–2011 were obtained from the Web of Science database (31 December 2012). The study included an analysis of the geographical distribution of the first authors and of the cited journals. Citing articles were classified according to five categories and 10 subcategories. Results: The AGNP-TDM and the ILAE-TDM were cited 214 and 67 times, respectively. For the AGNP-TDM, written by 14 authors from German speaking countries, the number of self-citations was 83 (39%). Most citations were found in the following categories: reviews in clinical pharmacology (85 times), clinical pharmacological studies in patients (49). Four out of the 74 different AGNP-TDM citing journals displayed 41% of the citations. The ILAE-TDM was published by five European authors and four authors from the USA. Europe (40) and North America (15) had the highest citation rates. For both guidelines, reviews in clinical pharmacology had the highest percentage of citations, 40% for the AGNP-TDM and 49% for the ILAE-TDM. Conclusion: The observations obtained in this pilot study allowed an analysis of the visibility of two expert guidelines by the scientific community.     

Precision radiotherapy for brain tumors A 10-year bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE: Precision radiotherapy plays an important role in the management of brain tumors. This study aimed to identify global research trends in precision radiotherapy for brain tumors using a bibliometric analysis of the Web of Science. DATA RETRIEVAL: We performed a bibliometric analysis of data retrievals for precision radiotherapy for brain tumors containing the key words cerebral tumor, brain tumor, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, imaging-guided radiotherapy, dose-guided radiotherapy, stereotactic brachytherapy, and stereotactic radiotherapy using the Web of Science. SELECTION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria: (a) peer-reviewed articles on precision radiotherapy for brain tumors which were published and indexed in the Web of Science; (b) type of articles: original research articles and reviews; (c) year of publication: 2002-2011. Exclusion criteria: (a) articles that required manual searching or telephone access; (b) Corrected papers or book chapters. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Annual publication output; (2) distribution according to country; (3) distribution according to institution; (4) top cited publications; (5) distribution according to journals; and (6) comparison of study results on precision radiotherapy for brain tumors. RESULTS: The stereotactic radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, and imaging-guided radiotherapy are three major methods of precision radiotherapy for brain tumors. There were 260 research articles addressing precision radiotherapy for brain tumors found within the Web of Science. The USA published the most papers on precision radiotherapy for brain tumors, followed by Germany and France. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University were the most prolific research institutes for publications on precision radiotherapy for brain tumors. Among the top 13 research institutes publishing in this field, seven are in the USA, three are in Germany, two are in France, and there is one institute in India. Research interests including urology and nephrology, clinical neurology, as well as rehabilitation are involved in precision radiotherapy for brain tumors studies. CONCLUSION: Precision radiotherapy for brain tumors remains a highly active area of research and development.     

The Use of Theory in Health Behavior Research from 2000 to 2005: A Systematic Review

Background  Theory-based health behavior change programs are thought to be more effective than those that do not use theory. No previous reviews have assessed the extent to which theory is used (that is, operationalized and tested) in empirical research. Purpose  The purpose of this study was to describe theory use in recent health behavior literature and to assess the proportion of research that uses theory along a continuum from: informed by theory to applying, testing, or building theory. Methods  A sample of empirical research articles (n = 193) published in ten leading public health, medicine, and psychology journals from 2000 to 2005 was coded to determine whether and how theory was used. Results  Of health behavior articles in the sample, 35.7% mentioned theory. The most-often-used theories were The Transtheoretical Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Health Belief Model. Most theory use (68.1%) involved research that was informed by theory; 18% applied theory; 3.6% tested theory; and 9.4% sought to build theory. Conclusions  About one third of published health behavior research uses theory and a small proportion of those studies rigorously apply theory. Patterns of theory use are similar to reports from the mid-1990s. Behavioral researchers should strive to use theory more thoroughly by applying, testing, and building theories in order to move the field forward.     

Bibliometric profile of neurogenic bladder in the literature: a 20-year bibliometric analysis

Neurogenic bladder is a dysfunction of the lower urinary tract caused by nervous system disorder. We investigated the trends in publication of articles under the topic “neurogenic bladder” using bibliometric analysis. Articles on neurogenic bladder, published between 1995 and 2014, were retrieved from the ISI Web of Science citation database. We analyzed the search results for authors, countries, institutions, journals, and top-cited papers. A total of 1,904 articles were retrieved. There was a small increase in the number of articles on neurogenic bladder from 1995 (n = 43) to 2014 (n = 117). The USA was the leading country in the total number of articles (n = 598). However, the number of publications from China has rapidly increased, and China was ranked second in 2014. Emmanuel Chartier-Kastler (n = 65) was the most productive author, and University of Paris VI (Paris 6) (n = 61) was the most productive institution. The Journal of Urology published the greatest number of articles on this topic (n = 285). Articles on neurogenic bladder were often published in a professional journal under the category Urology & Nephrology, Neurosciences & Neurology, or Rehabilitation. Visualization analysis based on co-citation networks was conducted using CiteSpace III. Visualization analysis revealed that the hot spots in neurogenic bladder were botulinum toxin-A, prazosin, bethanechol, and afferent pathways. These findings provide new insight into the publication trends and hot spots in neurogenic bladder.     

Use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction in the last 10 years A Scopus-based literature analysis

OBJECTIVE: To identify global research trends in the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction. DATA RETRIEVAL: We performed a bibliometric analysis of studies on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction published during 2002-2011, retrieved from Scopus, using the Key Words of acupuncture and cerebral infarction or ischemic stroke. SELECTION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria: peer-reviewed articles on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction indexed in Scopus and published between 2002 and 2011; types of publications were original research articles, reviews, meeting abstracts, proceedings papers, book chapters, editorial material, and news items. Exclusion criteria: articles that required manual searching or telephone access; documents that were not published in the public domain; and corrected papers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (a) Annual publication output; (b) language of publication; (c) type of publication; (d) key words of publication; (e) publication by research field; (f) publication by journal; (g) publication by country and institution; (h) publication by author; (i) most-cited papers between 2002 and 2006; and (j) most-cited papers between 2007 and 2011. RESULTS: A total of 160 publications on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction from 2002-2011 were retrieved from Scopus. The number of publications increased gradually over the 10-year study period; most were written in Chinese or English. Articles and reviews constituted the major types. The most frequent key word used was acupuncture. The most prolific journals in this area were Zhongguo Zhen Jiu and the Chinese Journal of Clinical Rehabilitation. Of the 160 publications retrieved, half came from Chinese authors and institutions. Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was the most prolific research institute. Two papers were cited 30 times; they were published in 2002 and 2009, respectively. CONCLUSION: In the field of neuroscience, there is little literature on acupuncture for cerebral infarction. The most-cited papers were cited 30 times in the past 3 years. We believe that, with advances in the study of mechanisms in neurobiology, research on acupuncture will also advance and will become the concern of more scholars.     

Stem cell transplantation for treating stroke： status,trends and development

The developing approaches of thrombolytic therapy, endovascular treatment, neuroprotective therapy, and stem cell therapy have enabled breakthroughs in stroke treatment. In this study, we summarize and analyze trends and progress in stem cell transplantation for stroke treatment by retrieval of literature from Thomson Reuters Web of Science database, the NIH Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program, and Clinical Trials Registration Center in North America. In the last 10 years, there has been an increasing number of published articles on stem cell transplantation for stroke treatment. In particular, research from the USA and China has focused on stem cell transplantation. A total of 2,167 articles addressing stem cell transplantation for stroke treatment from 2004 to 2013 were retrieved from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database. The ma- jority of these articles were from the USA （854, 39.4%）, with the journal Stroke publishing the most articles （145, 6.7%）. Of the published articles, 143 were funded by the National Institutes of Health （accounting for 6.6% of total publications）, and 91 by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Between 2013 and 2014, the National Institutes of Health provided finan- cial support （$130 million subsidy） for 329 research projects on stroke therapy using stem cell transplantation. In 2014, 215 new projects were approved, receiving grants of up to $70,440,000. Ninety clinical trials focusing on stem cell transplantation for stroke were registered in the Clinical Trial Registration Center in North America, with 40 trials registered in the USA （ranked first place）. China had the maximum number of registered research or clinical trials （10 projects）.     

The spectrum of mutations for CADASIL diagnosis

Abstract Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leucoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is an inherited cerebrovascular disease due to mutations of the Notch3 gene at the chromosome locus 19p13. The clinical spectrum includes recurrent ischaemic episodes, cognitive deficits, migraine and psychiatric disorders. The histopathological hallmark of CADASIL is accumulation of electron dense granules (GOM) in the media of arterioles. MRI reveals extensive cerebral white matter lesions and subcortical infarcts. CADASIL was initially thought to be a rare disorder, but increasing numbers of families have been identified; therefore, it is likely that CADASIL is still largely underdiagnosed. Here we report an update on mutations of the Notch3 gene and some information on the pathogenesis of the disease.The paper of Federico et al. on the spectrum of CADASIL mutations opens a new section of our Journal. The articles published under the heading “Update in Neurogenetics” will synthetically review gene mutations that have been reported to be associated with different neurological phenotypes.Antonio Federico kindly accepted to coordinate the section. The readers of Neurological Sciences are invited to submit to him proposals focused on mutations relevant to different neurological disorders. Giuliano Avanzini Editor-in-chief of Neurological Sciences     

Global trends and performances of acupuncture research

This study was designed to evaluate the global scientific output of acupuncture research in the Science Citation Index-Expanded and to assess the tendencies and research performances of leading countries/territories and institutes. Articles referring to acupuncture were assessed by distribution of document types, languages, journals, subject categories, source countries, and source institutes. Results showed that 15 languages were represented in articles from 65 countries/territories. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine published the most articles, followed by American Journal of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research which were listed in category of integrative & complementary medicine. In the study period of 1991-2009, USA was the top producing country, followed by China (mainland) with a sharply growth trend. In 2009, publication of China (mainland) ranked top one in the world. In addition, an acupuncture research trend was found in two phases in terms of the increase of number of SCI-expanded journals’ articles. Among the acupuncture research, pain control has been the most prevalent direction of study, and brain imaging is attracting the most recent attention.     

Suicide rates, life satisfaction and happiness as markers for population mental health

Objective To examine the association of variables from survey data on well-being with suicide rates and other markers of population mental health in Europe. Design Ecological study correlating (Spearman’s rank correlation) life satisfaction and happiness (European Values Survey 1999/2000) in 32 countries with suicide rates (WHO Mortality Database), rates of hospital discharge for mental and behavioural disorders and prevalence of mental disorders based on registered mental patients (WHO Regional Office for Europe) and Mental Health Index (MHI)-5 survey data (European Opinion Research Group). Results An inverse association exists between suicide rates and life satisfaction (r=−0.44; 95% CI: −0.68, −0.11) and happiness (r=−0.42; 95% CI: −0.67, −0.08). Similar though weaker associations were seen with hospital discharge data and MHI−5 data but not with the prevalence of mental disorders. The association between suicide rates and life satisfaction was weaker amongst 15–44 year olds (r=−0.31; 95% CI: −0.59, 0.04) than amongst 45–64 year olds (r=−0.47; 95% CI: −0.70, −0.14). It was strongest in the 65+ age group (r=−0.54; 95% CI: −0.75, −0.23). A similar pattern was observed for the association with happiness. In a subgroup analysis, the association between suicide and life satisfaction in Eastern Europe was similar to that in the whole dataset (r=−0.35) but a positive association was seen in Western Europe (r=0.47). Conclusions Life satisfaction and happiness were modestly associated with other indicators of population mental health. Since all such markers have their limitations, surveys of well-being may be useful indicators of population mental health.     

Reply: Levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease: Current controversies

The original articles to which this Letter refers have published in Movement Disorders: Current Controversies: Levodopa in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease, by Sharma, Vassallo, and Ross and Levodopa in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease: Current Controversies, by Gerlach, Reichmann, and Riederer .     

《中国临床神经外科杂志》2000～2006年引文分析

目的了解《中国临床神经外科杂志》情报吸收和利用情况，客观的揭示其文献引用规律及需求特征。方法对《中国临床神经外科杂志》2000-2006年所载论文引文的引文量、引文语种、引文类型、普赖斯指数、半衰期、自引率及核心引用期刊等方面进行统计分析。结果该刊引文率为79．63％；篇均引文量为5．73篇。主要引文类型为期刊，其中英文期刊为1009种，引文数量为5752条，占总引用频率的62．75％；中文期刊为372种，引文数量为2544条，占总引用频率的27．75％。普赖斯指数34．27％，半衰期5．25年。期刊自引398篇，自引率为4．34％。引用期刊共计1384种，被引21次以上的中文期刊16种；被引40次以上的外文期刊18种；共计34种，占总引用期刊引文量的53．28％。结论该刊栏目丰富，涉猎文献范围广，引文率呈逐年上升趋势。引文类型以期刊为主：中英文为本刊主要引用语种。     

A systematic review of clinical guidelines on choice,dose, and duration of antipsychotics treatment in first- and multi-episode schizophrenia

Abstract

Clinical guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to regulate pharmacological treatment of psychotic disorders. However, the quality of evidence, country of origin, and publication dates of such guidelines vary, which leads to discrepancies between recommendations. This systematic review aimed to examine consensus and disparities between clinical recommendations on the choice, dose, and duration of antipsychotic treatment for first- and multi-episode schizophrenia patients. A literature search through The Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and relevant bibliographies revealed 24 guidelines that met the inclusion criteria. The guidelines indicated mostly consistent recommendations regarding the optimal dose range of antipsychotics, while guidance with regards to the choice and duration of treatment remains somewhat controversial. Current trends in guidelines emphasize that there is simply no ‘one-size-fits-all’ method to manage schizophrenia patients. Further research is needed not only to address discrepancies between guidelines, but also to justify the gap between theory and practice.     

Transplantation of neural stem cells, Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing cells for spinal cord injury A Web of Science-based literature analysis

OBJECTIVE: To identify global research trends in transplantation of neural stem cells, Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing cells for spinal cord injury. DATA RETRIEVAL: We performed a bibliometric analysis of studies on transplantation of neural stem cells, Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing cells for spinal cord injury published from 2002 to 2011 and retrieved from the Web of Science, using the key words spinal cord injury along with either neural stem cell, Schwann cell or olfactory ensheathing cell. SELECTION CRITERIA: Inclusion criteria: (a) peer-reviewed published articles on neural stem cells, Schwann cells or olfactory ensheathing cells for spinal cord injury indexed in the Web of Science; (b) original research articles, reviews, meeting abstracts, proceedings papers, book chapters, editorial materials and news items; and (c) published between 2002 and 2011. Exclusion criteria: (a) articles that required manual searching or telephone access; (b) documents that were not published in the public domain; and (c) corrected papers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Annual publication output, distribution by journal, distribution by institution and top-cited articles on neural stem cells; (2) annual publication output, distribution by journal, distribution by institution and top-cited articles on Schwann cells; (3) annual publication output, distribution by journal, distribution by institution and top-cited articles on olfactory ensheathing cells. RESULTS: This analysis, based on articles indexed in the Web of Science, identified several research trends among studies published over the past 10 years in transplantation of neural stem cells, Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing cells for spinal cord injury. The number of publications increased over the 10-year period examined. Most papers appeared in journals with a focus on neurology, such as Journal of Neurotrauma, Experimental Neurology and Glia. Research institutes publishing on the use of neural stem cells to repair spinal cord injury were mostly in the USA and Canada. Those publishing on the use of Schwann cells were mostly in the USA and Canada as well. Those publishing on the use of olfactory ensheathing cells were mostly in the UK, the USA and Canada. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the large number of studies around the world, cell transplantation has proven to be the most promising therapeutic approach for spinal cord injury.