Trend in dental research output in Iran over a period of 20 years (1990-2009)

Introduction: The number of scientific papers is a conventional metric for the measurement of a country’s research performance in a particular area. Objective: To evaluate the trend in Iranian publications of dental research results in peer‐reviewed international scientific journals over the period 1999–2009, using national and international databases, and to compare the results with other countries. Methods: The search process was performed by two independent persons in PubMed and Iranian Medline (IranMedex). Data extraction included the year of publication, total number of dental papers in each year, total number of Iranian dental papers in each year and number of papers with a high level of evidence; these were compared with those in other Asian countries. Results: The total number of dental articles indexed in PubMed during the studied period was 207,689, with 671 being written by researchers who stated their affiliation as Iran. Although the proportion of Iranian dental articles to all published dental articles was 0.01% in 1990, this increased to 1.4% in 2009. Of all clinical trials indexed in PubMed from 1990 to 2009, only 0.62% had an author from Iran. The collaboration rate of authors ranged between 1 and 10. Turkey and Iran had a larger number of dental research publications compared with other Asian countries assessed in this study. Conclusion: During the last two decades, there has been a considerable increase in the number of dental papers by Iranian researchers indexed in the PubMed database.     

Dental research in Iran: a bibliometric analysis of electronically available literature

Purpose : To carry out a bibliometric analysis of all electronically available dental literature in Iran from 1983 to 2006, in order to study availability and examine trends. Materials and Methods : Accessing all electronically available Iranian dental articles published in domestic journals, and comparing the results with Iranian dental articles published in Pubmed. The following data were collected from each article: name of journal, year of publication, number of authors, gender of corresponding author, academic levels of authors, main language of article, language of abstract, study environment, population studied, field of dentistry, type of article, design strategy, design of study, and analysis design. Results : In terms of publications in domestic journals, a total of 1,994 dental articles were electronically available, published in six different dental journals in Iran. Majority of articles, 84.5%, were original studies. In terms of design strategy, 49.7% of studies were cross‐sectional, 35.5% were prospective, and 14.8% were retrospective studies. The main language of 99.3% of articles was Farsi, and 0.7% was English. Majority of articles, 38.7%, were written by two authors. Gender of corresponding author in 66.7% of articles was male, and in 33.3% of articles was female. There was an increasing trend in percentage of original studies, clinical trials and female corresponding authors. In terms of publications in Pubmed, a total of 75 dental articles from Iran were electronically available. Significant differences were revealed in terms of number of authors, study types and design strategies when compared to publications in domestic journals. Conclusion : A number of encouraging trends were identified, which is a reflection of improvements in quality of domestic electronic dental literature. However, as the majority of articles are written in Farsi, availability of research evidence to the international community is limited. Overall, results of this study indicate the need for future bibliometric analyses which can be used to construct a comprehensive database that will assist in evidence‐based clinical decision making.     

The trends of dental biomaterials research and future directions: A mapping review

ObjectiveThis literature research aimed to compare, contrast and quantify the innovations in the most commonly used dental biomaterials.MethodologyOriginal research articles based on experimental dental biomaterials published between 2007 and 2019 were retrieved and reviewed. A search of electronic databases, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science indexed dental/biomaterials journals, has been conducted. The inclusion criteria in this research were: synthesis of experimental dental materials, whereas commercial dental materials, review articles, and clinical trials (case reports) were excluded.ResultsIt was found that the amount of publications related to dental subgingival implants, computer-aided modeling ceramics, aesthetic restorative materials, adhesives cements, ceramics, bioceramics, endodontic materials, bioactive scaffolds, stem cells, and guided-tissue membranes had increased significantly from 2007. At the same time, the number of publications related to dental cements, silver amalgam, and dental alloys has decreased. For characterization of dental materials it was noted that mechanical properties were tested mostly for restorative materials. On the other hand, biological properties were most assessed for dental subgingival implants and endodontic materials, however, physical properties predominantly for bioceramics.ConclusionIt is concluded that to meet clinical demands there was more focus on restorative materials that provided better aesthetics, including resin composites, adhesive resin composites (luting cements), zirconia, and other ceramics. The boost in laboratory and animal research related to bioceramics was attributed to their regenerative potential. This current literature study will help growing researchers to consider and judge the direction to which research might be guided in order to plan prospective research projects.     

Exploring changes in dental workforce,dental care utilisation and dental caries levels in Europe, 1990–2004

Objectives : To provide a conceptual framework of the relationships between dental health and dental care utilisation with socio‐economic factors, human resources and the finance and organisation of dental healthcare systems in European countries from 1990 to 2004. Methods : Bivariate relations and longitudinal analysis using time series cross‐sectional regression models. Data were obtained from published papers and official publications. Results : We found no evidence that greater access to dental healthcare professionals has contributed to improving dental health among 12‐year‐old children. The main parameters influencing oral health and its evolution are income and educational levels within countries. The greater number of dentists and a relatively young adult population have a positive effect on the utilisation of dental services. Conclusions : The improvement in dental health obtained among European children over the last 15 years does not seem to be attributable to policies aimed at improving access to oral health services. What has been achieved is a higher rate of utilisation by adults, due in part to the greater relative numbers of dental healthcare personnel in European countries between 1990 and 2004.     

Association between Orthopedic and Dental Findings: What Level of Evidence is Available?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to provide comprehensive access to and an analysis of the specialist literature published through December 2005 describing a correlation between orthopedic (leg-length inequality, pelvis obliquity, column diseases and head posture) and dental findings (occlusion, mandibular position, temporomandibular joints, masticatory muscles). METHOD: Four medical and dental internet sources (PubMed; Medpilot.de; databases of the Deutsche Arzte-Verlag and Quintessenz-Verlag) were screened for relevant articles using carefully selected retrieval strategies and keywords. Bibliographies of relevant articles were examined for further pertinent publications. All relevant articles were tabulated according to their year of publication, the subject area discussed, and the levels of scientific evidence. RESULTS: Our electronic inquiry yielded 359 relevant articles (electronic search: 195, search in bibliographies: 164), 355 of which could be analyzed. A correlation between dental findings and spinal column diseases was described in 266 articles, head posture in 216, pelvis obliquity in 53, and leg-length inequality in 35 papers. In 131 publications, conclusions were drawn from dental to orthopedic findings, whereas they were drawn from orthopedic to dental findings in 171 articles. The number of relevant articles rose significantly, particularly since the 1980's. Classification in levels of evidence reveals three publications (0.8%) with level II (randomized controlled trials), 63 (17.7%) with level III (experimental studies with no randomization, cohort studies, or case-control studies), 178 (50.1%) with level IV (non-experimental studies, such as cross-sectional trials, case series, case reports), and 111 (31.3%) with level V (narrative review or expert opinion without explicit critical appraisal). CONCLUSIONS: 1) While there is great interest in possible correlations between orthopedic and dental findings in the specialist literature, most publications fail to provide the hard facts and solid evidence characteristic of high-quality research. 2) This literature analysis attests to the importance of searching electronic databases while making the inherent weaknesses of such searches obvious. Manual literature searches remain essential.     

Orofacial clefts in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review of quality and quantity of research based on literature between 2010-2019

This paper assesses the research literature on OFC in LMIC over the last decade across various geographical settings and project focus of the indexed literature. A scoping review of the indexed literature was performed using a set of predefined keywords. The articles were filtered by a ten-year time frame (2010-2019) and a strict inclusive-exclusive criterion. Two authors screened the titles/abstracts/full text of the final included papers and input the desired data (year of publication, type of publication, geographical country/region and project focus to a coded spreadsheet). Six hundred and twenty publications were inventoried from the indexed literature on OFC in LMIC settings over the 10-year period. Five hundred and eighty-three derived from single LMIC countries and 37 from multi-settings. More than half of the articles were reported from Asia (57%), then from Americas (22.8%), Africa (15.4%) and the rest from cross-regional, Europe and Oceania (4.9%). The top 3 LMIC contributors towards OFC publications were China (21.5%), Brazil (13.1%) and India (11.6%). The most discussed OFC project themes were prevalence, surgical repair, aetiology and genetics. This study helps OFC researchers, humanitarian missions and research grant funders to identify gaps in the literature on issues impacting on children and adults born with OFC, in which issues were subjected to research and which were less explored in which LMIC regions. In addition, this study offers recommendations for established OFC researchers and international research bodies to identify areas of deficiency in the literature and what information is required to support LMIC governments achieve SDGs by 2030.     

Publication: Presentation rate in the Latin American region of the International Association for Dental Research

Most research conducted by the dental scientific community is presented at the Annual Meetings of the different Divisions and Sections of IADR. This research acquires real value when the results are published in peer-reviewed journals. A useful indicator of the publication efficiency of research work is the rate of publication (PR), i.e., the ratio between the quantity of presentations and subsequent publications in peer-reviewed journals. The aim of this study was to analyze the PR of the presentations at the Sections and Divisions of the Latin American Region of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). We considered the presentations at the Annual Meetings of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru held in 2002 and 2003 and their corresponding publications indexed in PubMed from 2002 to 2009. For Venezuela, we analyzed the meetings held in 2002 and 2005, because they did not hold consecutive annual meetings. Presentation periods were selected based on previous data that report an interval of up to five years between presentation and publication. The number of presentations and the PR are related to the number of years that Sections and Divisions have existed. In Brazil and Argentina, PR (expressed as 1 publication: x presentations) is 1:3. The amount of research in Brazil is almost 8 times higher than in Argentina. Newer Sections and Divisions have produced fewer presentations, and the PR is also lower. We hope that this type of analysis will encourage the promotion of dental research at the different institutions and in the different vacancy areas of research, and facilitate exchange among researchers in the Region, enabling greater use to be made of their scientific activities.     

Peer-reviewed publication output from South African dental schools 1990-2005

INTRODUCTION: A study published in 1996 suggested that a limit had been reached for peer-reviewed publication output from South African dental schools. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study was to examine recent trends in publication output from five South African dental schools to compare with the earlier study. METHODS: A PubMed on-line search coupled with a manual search was done for peer-reviewed publications appearing in 1995-2005 from the five dental schools. RESULTS: The literature search identified 610 listings--595 actual publications six of which were listed for two dental schools. Overall there was a slight reduction in number of articles as well as an increase in articles published in South African journals. Within the schools there was also a decline in output. Disciplines producing the publications varied within the schools with dental materials being the most common, There was little difference in the quality of articles indicated by mean CJM scores between the schools. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that research output has declined beyond the limit speculated in 1996.     

A bibliometric analysis of the pediatric dental literature in MEDLINE.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the availability of dental literature between 1989 and 1998 in seven disciplines within pediatric dentistry by using a bibliometric analysis on MEDLINE and to compare the results to that for adolescents and adults. METHODS: A search strategy was developed for each discipline incorporating dental vocabulary obtained from the MEDLINE Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) index. The number of articles retrieved from MEDLINE for adolescents and adults (> 13 yo) was compared to those for children (< 12 yo) in seven dental disciplines: dental implants, endodontics, oral medicine/radiology, oral surgery, orthodontics, periodontics, and restorative dentistry. RESULTS: There was an average of 8,097 dental articles published each year for the combined seven disciplines studied with an eight-fold range from 327 articles/year for endodontics to 2,765 articles/year for oral medicine/radiology. Of the mean number of articles published each year, 1,273 (16%) were limited to children, while the remaining 6,824 (84%) were on adolescents and adults. The number and percentage of children articles relative to the total number of publications on children ranged from 7 articles/year (1%) for dental implants to 528 articles/year (42%) for oral medicine/radiology. Implant dentistry publications increased the fastest, growing at an average yearly rate of 25%, followed by restorative dentistry (9%), endodontics (9%), oral surgery (6%), orthodontics (6%), periodontics (3%), and oral medicine/radiology (2%). CONCLUSIONS: There is a substantial amount of literature in pediatric dentistry upon which to base clinical decisions. Within this large body of literature, there is a significant amount of variation between the various dental disciplines examined. To stay current, one would need to read and absorb approximately 24 articles each week over 52 weeks per year in more than 75 different journals. Furthermore, the volume of literature is increasing each year, making access even more difficult. These trends suggest the need for computer systems that will facilitate access and retrieval of clinically useful literature.     

World dental demographics

AIMS: To collect basic data regarding dental workforce and dental education in all countries of the world and to make this data available on the FDI's Website. METHOD: A postal questionnaire survey. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Member Associations of the FDI and governmental agencies. RESULTS: Responses were received from 73 countries with a reported total number of dentists of 703,947. A comparison between the figures now reported and the figures published in 1990 shows that the total number of dentists in these countries has increased by 27.8 per cent over the ten year period. No correlation was found between the population per dentist figures and the GNP of the countries. In the reporting countries, there were 550 dental schools. A comparison between the figures now reported and the figures published in 1990 shows that the total number of dental schools in these countries has increased by 42.6 per cent over the ten year period. The total number of dental hygienists was reported to be 181,336 and the total number of dental technicians in these countries was reported to be 252,004.     

Reflections on a decade of research by ASEAN dental faculties: analysis of publications from ISI‐WOS databases from 2000 to 2009

This communication analyzed research publications in dentistry in the Institute of Scientific Information Web of Science databases of 10 dental faculties in the Association of South‐East Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 2000 to 2009. The term used for the “all‐document types” search was “Faculty of Dentistry/College of Dentistry.” Abstracts presented at regional meetings were also included in the analysis. The Times Higher Education System QS World University Rankings showed that universities in the region fare poorly in world university rankings. Only the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University appeared in the top 100 in 2009; 19 universities in the region, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, appeared in the top 500. Data from the databases showed that research publications by dental institutes in the region fall short of their Asian counterparts. Singapore and Thailand are the most active in dental research of the ASEAN countries.     

THE EVOLUTION OF THE JOURNAL OF APPLIED ORAL SCIENCE: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

The purpose of this study was to make a brief diagnosis of the evolution of the Journal of Applied Oral Science (JAOS) between 2005 and 2007, by reviewing quantitative and qualitative aspects of the articles published in the JAOS within this period. All articles published in the JAOS in the time span established for this survey were analyzed retrospectively and a discussion was undertaken on the data referring to the main bibliometric indexes of production, authorship, bibliographic sources of the published articles, and the most frequently cited scientific journals in the main dental research fields. A total of 247 papers authored and coauthored by 1,139 contributors were reviewed, most of them being original research articles. The number of authors per article was 4.61 on the average. Regarding the geographic distribution, the authors represented almost all of the Brazilian States. Most published articles belonged to the following dental research fields: Endodontics, Restorative Dentistry, Dental Materials and Prosthodontics. The ranking of the most frequently cited scientific journals included the most reputable publications in these dental research fields. In conclusion, between 2005 and 2007, the JAOS either maintained or improved considerably its bibliometric indexes. The analysis of the data retrieved in this study allowed evaluating the journal''s current management strategies, and identifying important issues that will help outlining the future directions for the internationalization of this journal.     

A review of oral and maxillofacial surgery journals’ contribution to undergraduate surgical education

We searched the Medline database of 4 leading international journals of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) for all articles containing the terms “undergraduate”, “medical student”, or “dental student” in the abstract, title, or keywords, from the earliest paper to 2013, to identify and review publications that related to the education of undergraduate medical and dental students. We found 130 articles, of which 22 (17%) met the inclusion criteria. Most were published by teams based in the United States, followed by those from the United Kingdom and Germany. The earliest was published in 1986. Since then, most have been published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (0.33/year) and the least in the International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (0.11/year). Eleven original research articles concerned dental students and 4 concerned medical students. Three studies looked at both groups and compared them with their qualified counterparts. There is a relative paucity of articles relating to the education of undergraduates, particularly medical students, in OMFS journals, although the number has increased over the last decade. There is a need for more educational papers to be aimed at students interested in pursuing OMFS as a career.     

Global research on dental polymers and their application: A bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping

PurposeThe main objective of the current study was to evaluate the top-cited articles, countries, journals, authors, and papers published related to dental polymers and their application. Research articles published from 1962 to 2021 on dental polymers and their application were identified using the Scopus database.MethodologyBibliographical data related to the abstract, citations, keywords, and other relevant information was extracted using different combinations of keywords. Further evaluation and visualization of the selected data were performed with the help of various tools, including MS Excel, Microsoft Word, Google open refine, Biblioshiny, BibExcel, and VOS viewer. An initial search revealed 351 documents, of which 327 were chosen for further analysis.ResultsA substantial increase in the number of publications related to this domain was observed. The United States was the most prolific country, while the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from Greece was identified as the leading institute.ConclusionThis bibliometric analysis can guide researchers, funding agencies, industry, and institutions.     

International distribution of dental materials publications and patents.

International patterns of research and development in the field of restorative dental materials were examined with data on publications (1981-85) and patents (1979-88). It was found that United States-based authors produced approximately one-half of all dental materials journal articles published worldwide, while US inventors had nearly the same share of the US dental materials patents. During the periods studied, the share of US patents in dental materials awarded to US inventors declined, while the share of US patents awarded to Japanese inventors rose. The role of the United States in research (as measured by journal articles) remained stable. Nations differed in the degree to which their researchers specialized in particular research areas. US-based authors and inventors were relatively over-represented in prosthetic materials and under-represented in dental cements, an area in which the British and the Japanese concentrated more of their activity. There was some, but not complete, agreement in the patterns of national specialization as indexed by patent and publication data. When dental materials data were compared with data for broader fields of science and technology, important differences were found. For publications, US-based authors displayed greater dominance in dental materials than in the fields of dentistry, chemistry, and materials science. US-based inventors' share of US dental materials patents was smaller than their share of all US patents. These analyses demonstrated that it was possible to use indicators derived from publication and patent data files to conduct insightful studies of a discrete specialty of science and technology.     

Robot technology in dentistry,part one of a systematic review: literature characteristics

ObjectivesTo provide dental practitioners and researchers with a comprehensive and transparent evidence-based overview of the characteristics of literature regarding initiatives of robot technology in dentistry.DataAll articles in which robot technology in dentistry is described, except for non-scientific articles and articles containing secondary data (reviews). Amongst others, the following data were extracted: type of study, level of technological readiness, authors’ professional background and the subject of interaction with the robot.SourcesBibliographic databases PubMed, Embase, and Scopus were surveyed. A reference search was conducted. The search timeline was between January 1985 and October 2020.Study selectionA total of 911 articles were screened on title and abstract of which 161 deemed eligible for inclusion. Another 71 articles were excluded mainly because of unavailability of full texts or the sole use of secondary data (reviews). Four articles were included after hand searching the reference lists. In total, 94 articles were included for analysis.ConclusionsSince 2013 an average of six articles per year concern robot initiatives in dentistry, mostly originating from East Asia (57%). The vast majority of research was categorized as either basic theoretical or basic applied research (80%). Technology readiness levels did not reach higher than three (proof of concept) in 55% of all articles. In 84%, the first author of the included articles had a technical background and in 36%, none of the authors had a dental or medical background. The overall quality of literature, especially in terms of clinical validation, should be considered as low.     

Dental research productivity in Argentina (1993 to 2003)

The scientific presentations at the annual meetings of the Argentine Division of the I.A.D.R. (S.A.I.O.) are proof of the scientific production of this country in dental research. Our annual meetings provide a forum for the rapid communication and discussion of research. However, only peer-reviewed articles, published in journals indexed in worldwide-accepted databases such as MEDLINE are permanent records of the research work and can reach out to a global audience. A useful indicator of quality and publication efficiency of research work is the rate of publication (RP), i.e. relationship between the quantity of presentations and subsequent publications in peer-reviewed journals. Previous works analyzed the two periods: 1980-1989 and 1990-1995 (Acta Odont. Latinoamer 7(2):39-46,1993 and Acta Odont. Latinoamer. 10(1):63-69, 1997). The aim of this work was to update the informatiod and study the publication rate of national Dental research works. The 1669 works produced by national research centers presented at the Annual Meetings of the S.A.LO. from 1993 to 2003 were evaluated. Employing the authors' index of the programs of the Annual Meetings of the S.A.I.O. we searched for possible publications in MEDLINE. The references obtained were compared with the presentations (title and authors) disregarding those that had not been communicated previously at our Division meeting. Presentations and the corresponding publications were grouped according to research center and within each center according to subject area. The following parameters were obtained: PR, time between Presentation and publication and language of publication. PR increased in 1993-2003 (1/4.8, 20.79%) when compared to the periods studied previously (1/8, 12%). Most of the publications were in English and had been published within 4 years after presentation. The increase in the number of S.A.I.O. presentations published in peer-reviewed journals shows an improvement in terms of research productivity in dental research in Argentina.     

Benchmarking the dental implant evidence on MEDLINE

The purpose of this study was to estimate the quantity of dental implant literature available on MEDLINE for evidence-based clinical decision-making and to identify its location. A search strategy based on Medical Subject Headings for dental implants was developed to examine MEDLINE using the Ovid Web Gateway search engine. Sensitive and specific methodologic search filters identified 4 categories of information: etiology, diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis. The results were then subdivided by year to identify trends and sorted to identify the sources of publications. The searches identified 4,655 articles published in English between 1989 and 1999 on human dental implants on MEDLINE. The mean number of articles (+/- SD) per year ranged from 15 +/- 11 for specific searches to 107 +/- 50 for sensitive searches. The number of articles increased by 14% to 43% each year for the sensitive search. When subdivided by clinical category, the mean numbers of articles per year for sensitive and specific searches were, respectively: diagnosis 12 +/- 7.5 and 1.5 +/- 1.6, etiology 58 +/- 33 and 1.9 +/- 2.5, therapy 23 +/- 15 and 0.3 +/- 0.5, and prognosis 67 +/- 33 and 12 +/- 8.3. Four dental journals account for approximately half of these publications. These results provide 6 key central findings: (1) there appears to be a substantial literature of clinically relevant information on implants upon which to base clinical decisions; (2) the implant literature is significantly biased toward articles addressing prognosis; (3) to stay current, one would need to read between 1 and 2 articles per week 52 weeks per year, and this number increases significantly each year; (4) approximately 50% of the articles were published in 4 journals, whereas the remainder reside in approximately 97 other journals, making it difficult to stay current; (5) these trends reaffirm the need for lifelong learning; (6) these trends also suggest the need for computer-based clinical knowledge systems.