Aim: To perform bibliometric and citation analysis of Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology over a 60-year period since its start in 1957.
Methods: We obtained bibliometric information for the initial two decades (1957-1976) manually and for the subsequent 40 years (1977-2016) using Science Citation Index-expanded provided by the Web of Science, and retrieved 3,457 original articles and reviews for publication and citation analysis.
Results: The Journal witnessed a marked globalization in the 60-year period from exclusive contributions by Japanese authors in the initial decades to a progressive increase of international contributions to ultimately share about 30% of publications, contributed by 40 different countries, led by USA and Asian countries including South Korea and People's Republic of China. Major study types were laboratory research (n=1,477, 41.9%), observational study (n=960, 27.8%), therapeutic measures (n=581, 16.8%), and epidemiology and risk factors (n=469, 13.6%). Basic laboratory studies were predominant in the first two decades, followed by a marked decline, whereas clinical observational studies and therapeutic innovations had a substantial increase in recent decades. Of 2,834 articles from 1987 and 2016, 2,557 (90.2%) have been cited at least once. The distribution of citation counts ranged from one to 311 with a median of 4 times. The citation classics as defined by the top 100-cited articles dealt with a wide field of basic and clinical ophthalmology, notably epidemiology of diseases prevalent in northeastern Asian countries including Behçet disease and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, and quantitative assessment of aqueous flares and proteins and its diagnostic application. The two most frequently cited articles were Shiose et al's on glaucoma epidemiology in 1991 and Sawa et al's one on development of the laser flare-cell meter in 1988.
Conclusions: This study provides a historical perspective on the JJO publication since its start in 1957, revealing a steady shift from basic laboratory to clinical studies and a progressive contribution from abroad.
Nippon Ganka Gakkai Zasshi (J Jpn Ophthalmol Soc) 123: 11-23, 2019.