[Infectious keratitis in China during the past two decades: a bibliometric analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To gain insights into the construction and content of literature on infectious keratitis in China during the past two decades.

METHODS: Through VIP-VMIS, SinoMed and PubMed databases for the period of 1989 to 2008, the literature regarding infectious keratitis published in domestic and foreign journals by China authors was retrieved. Numbers, types, time, journal distribution of documents published and provincial distribution of authors were recorded. Meanwhile the subject content was roughly analyzed.

RESULTS: There were 1982 Chinese articles on infectious keratitis during the past two decades, of which 629 were pertaining to traditional Chinese medicine. In the remaining 1353 of Western medicine articles, 704 were published in kernel journals, 78 in serial journals of Chinese Medical Association and 443 as original research articles (including 160 basic research papers). Moreover, 30 articles regarding epidemiology and etiology of infectious keratitis were retrieved from VIP-VMIS. And 31 papers published in foreign journals were retrieved from PubMed database.

CONCLUSIONS: During the past two decades, the China oculists have made great progress in research works on infectious keratitis. However more attention should be devoted to the basic researches, epidemiologic survey and etiologic analysis.