Bibliometric analysis of homeopathy research during the period of 1991 to 2003

Homeopathy has been applied to clinical use since it was first presented 200 years ago. The use of the bibilometric analysis technique for examining this topic does not exist in the literature. The objective of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of all homeopathy-related publications in Science Citation Index (SCI). A systematic search was performed using the SCI for publications during the period of 1991 to 2003. Selected documents included 'Homoeopathy, Homoeopathic, Homeopathy, or Homeopathic' as a part of the title, abstract, or keywords. Analyzed parameters included authorship, patterns of international collaboration, journal, language, document type, research address, number of times cited, and reprint author's address. Citation analysis was mainly based on the impact factor as defined by the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and on citations per publications (CPP), which is used to assess the impact relative to the entire field and is defined as the ratio between the average numbers of citations per publications in a certain period. Of total articles, 49% had a single author. The UK, the US, and Germany produced 71% of the total output, while European countries as a whole also contributed 65% of the total share of independent publications. English remains the dominant language, it comprised only 76%, while German contributed 18%, and the remaining where distributed among 8 European languages. More document types and languages, and fewer pages have appeared in homeopathy research. 3.5% of papers were cited more than 10 times in three years after publication, and 60% were never cited. Small-group collaboration was a popular method as co-authorship. The top 3 ranking countries of publication were the UK, the US, and Germany. The US dominated citation followed by the UK, and then Germany. In addition, a simulation model was applied to describe the relationship between the cumulative number of citations and the paper life.