Zyoud SH. Global research on Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea: A visualized study. World J Gastroenterol 2022; 28(28): 3720-3731 [PMID: 36161039 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i28.3720]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Sa'ed H Zyoud, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Academic Street, Nablus 44839, Palestine. saedzyoud@yahoo.com
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 28, 2022; 28(28): 3720-3731 Published online Jul 28, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i28.3720
Global research on Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea: A visualized study
Sa'ed H Zyoud
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Poison Control and Drug Information Center, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Clinical Research Centre, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Author contributions: Zyoud S developed the concept for the manuscript, reviewed the literature, formulated research questions, collected the data, conducted analyses and interpreted the data, and wrote the manuscript, the author read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The author has read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sa'ed H Zyoud, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Academic Street, Nablus 44839, Palestine. saedzyoud@yahoo.com
Received: February 15, 2022 Peer-review started: February 16, 2022 First decision: March 9, 2022 Revised: March 12, 2022 Accepted: June 22, 2022 Article in press: June 22, 2022 Published online: July 28, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile (C. difficile) infections are growing more prevalent and are now one of the most often encountered healthcare-associated infections worldwide.
Research motivation
To our best knowledge, however, a large number of bibliometric studies notably focused on microbiology have been undertaken by using various databases for data analysis. More research efforts are still required to thoroughly analyse and identify the existing literature related to C. difficile infection from many perspectives in order to identify study area hot issues in this field.
Research objectives
This study gives an up-to-date picture of the trends in publications linked to C. difficile infection, as well as unique insights into hot topics in this field.
Research methods
This study was based on a bibliometric analysis of Scopus and Reference Citation Analysis publications.
Research results
Three clusters of research were highlighted as hot topics: ‘illness spectrum and severity, as well as signs, symptoms and clinical pathogenesis of C. difficile’; ‘laboratory diagnosis and characterization of C. difficile’ and ‘risk factors for C. difficile infection’.
Research conclusions
The current study conducted a bibliometric analysis of C. difficile-related publications in the disciplines of microbiology and gastroenterology from 2001 to 2020 to identify research hotspots for potential future directions. Results revealed that the topic ‘risk factors for C. difficile infection’ began to appear more frequently in the last five years.
Research perspectives
This bibliometric study will provide clinicians and researchers in gastroenterology and microbiology with a quantitative and timely summary of publications linked to C. difficile infection. It also intends to be a resource for clinicians and researchers on principles and current evidence.
