World Cataract Research: A Scientometric Analysis of Publications Output during 2002-11

Objectives: The study analyses the global publications output in cataract research during 2002-11 on several parameters including contribution & citation impact of top 15 most productive countries, different types of cataract research, research output by different population age groups, subject-wise break-up of research output, relatedness of various diseases to cataract research, research contribution and impact of top 15 institutions and authors and productivity of the top 20 journals. Methods: The Scopus Citation Database has been used to retrieve the data for 10 years (2002-11) by searching the keywords “cataract” in the combined Title, Abstract and Keywords field. Results: The world publication output in cataract research consisted of 27053 papers during 2002-11, which increased from 2025 papers in 2002 to 3080 papers in 2011, witnessing an annual average growth rate of 4.89%. The average citation impact per paper registered by world publications was 6.94 during 2002-11, which decreased from 7.82 during 2002-06 to 5.21 during 2007-11 Conclusions: Cataract is a significant and increasing global problem. The challenges are to prevent or delay cataract formation and cure that which occurs. Preventive interventions must be identified, perfected and delivered through research changes in government policy and legislation and modification of community and individual behavior