World teledermatology productivity in telemedicine literature: A bibliometric analysis of telemedicine publications between 1975 and 2016

Background: Teledermatology is a new medical technology that is increasingly used and accessible with the development of imaging technologies. The aim of this paper is to perform a bibliometric analysis of the world productivity in telemedicine field. Methods: We used Web of Science database and included all teledermatology documents published between 1975 and 2016. Results: We found a total of 12,641 items and 7,164 of which were original articles. The USA was the leading country with 4,342 articles followed by the UK and Germany. Teledermatology field covered only 6.26% of all telemedicine literature. Herein we evaluated the world telemedicine productivity between 1975 to 2016. Conclusion: The use of teledermatology is more important in rural areas, especially in which access is difficult. Telemedicine provides the conduction of dermatology applications to places where it is difficult to reach