Abstract
During the 1974–2004 period, the sleep literature had quadrupled (2384 publications in 1974, and 9721 in 2004) while overall scientific productivity had only doubled. The set of the seven most productive countries (USA, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada and Italy) in sleep research, and the geographical region distribution remained stable over the three decades. On the other hand several indicators appeared in the sleep research literature during the 1990s: the increasing productivity of sleep researchers; the growing number of countries publishing on sleep; the continuous creation of sleep-focused journals; the scattering of sleep publication among increasingly more scientific journals; the turnover among the leading journals; and the emergence of new entities such as China, Turkey, and the European Union.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aserinsky, E., Kleitman, N. (1953), Regularly occurring periods of eye motility, and concomitant phenomena, during sleep. Science, 118: 273–274.
Balaram, P. (2002), Science in India: Signs of stagnation. Current Science, 83(3): 193–194.
Berger, H. (1929), Über das Elektroenkephalogramm des Menschen. Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Berlin, 87: 527–570.
Cimmino, M. A., Maio, T., Ugolini, D., Borasi, F., Mela, G. S. (2005), Trends in otolaryngology research during the period 1995–2000: A bibliometric approach. Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, 132: 295–302.
Clark, J., Cunningham, M., Mc Millan, S., Vena, C., Parker, K. (2004), Sleep-wake disturbances in people with cancer. Part II: Evaluating the evidence for clinical decision making. Oncology Nursing Forum, 31(4): 747–768.
CORDIS (2006), Community Research & Development Information Service. http://ica.cordis.lu/searchindex.cfm accessed on July 12th 2006. The list of projects can be accessed using the term Sleep and the projects can be displayed through the link projects.
Dement, W. C. (2005), History of Sleep Medicine. Neurologic Clinics, 23: 945–965.
Gershell, L. (2006), Insomnia market. Nature Reviews, 5:15–16.
Hood, W. W., Wilson, C. S. (2003), Informetric studies using online database: Opportunities and challenges. Scientometrics, 58(3): 587–608.
Hunt, C. E. (2004), Recent progress in sleep research: Biological, clinical and public health impact. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 2: S9–S10.
Kagitçibasi, C. (2003), Science on the rise in Turkey. TWAS Newsletter, 15(2): 24–27. [available online at: http://www.ictp.trieste.it/:_twas/pdf/NL15_2_PDF/06-Turkey_24-27_low.pdf]
Kostoff, R. N., Johnson, D., Bowles, C. A., Dodbele S. (2006), Assessment of India’s literature. DTIC Technical Report Number ADA444625. Defense Technical Information Center. Fort Belvoir, VA. [available online at: http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA444625]
Kumar, V. M. (2005), Asia wakes up. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 3: 47–48.
Lichstein, K. L. (2003), Is there a need for another sleep journal? Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 54: 93–96.
Loomis, A. L., Harvey, E. N., Hobart, G. A. (1935), Potential rhythms of the cerebral cortex during sleep. Science, 81: 597–598, and 82: 198–200.
Majde, J. A., Krueger, J. M. (2005), Links between the innate immune system and sleep. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 116(6): 1188–1198.
Mela, G. S., Mancardi, G. L. (2002), Neurological research in Europe as assessed with a four-year overview of neurological science international journals. Journal of Neurology, 249: 390–395.
Miquel, J. F., Ojasoo, T., Okubo, Y., Paul, A., Doré, J. C. (1995), World Science in 18 disciplinary areas: comparative evaluation of the publication patterns of 48 countries over the period 1981–1992. Scientometrics, 33(2): 149–167.
Moreira, T. (2006), Sleep, Health and the dynamics of biomedicine. Social Science & Medicine, 63(1): 54–63.
Nature, (2005), Insight: editorials, commentary, reviews and progress on Sleep. Nature, 437(7063): 1207; 1220–1222; 1253–1289.
NHLBI (2003), National Sleep Disorders Research Plan. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/sleep/res_plan/sleep-rplan.pdf (accessed on July 17th 2006).
NIH (2004) Annual Report of the Trans-NIH Sleep Research Coordinating Committee. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/sleep/sleep-04.htm accessed on July 12th 2006.
Ohayon, M. M., Partinen, M. (2002), Insomnia and global dissatisfaction in Finland. Journal of Sleep Research, 11(4): 339–346.
Piéron, H. (1913), Le problème physiologique du sommeil. Masson Publisher, Paris.
Rechtschaffen, A., Kales, A. (1968), A Manual of Standardized Terminology, Techniques, and Scoring System for Sleep Stages of Human Subjects. Los Angeles, CA: BIS/BRI, University of California.
Robert C., Wilson C.S., Gaudy J.-F., Arreto C.-D. (2006a). A year in review: Bibliometric glance at sleep research literature in medicine and Biology. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 4: 160–170.
Robert, C., Wilson, C. S., Gaudy, J.-F., Arreto, C.-D. (2006b), A snapshot of EU publications in sleep research: A scientometric survey. Scientometrics, 67(3): 385–405.
Rosmarakis, E. S., Vergidis, P. I., Soteriades, E. S., Paraschakis, K., Papastamataki, P. A., Falagas, M. E. (2005), Estimates of global production in cardiovascular diseases research. International Journal of Cardiology, 100: 443–449.
ScienceWatch (2004), Sketches of Spain Show Gain. http://www.sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2004/sw_novdec2004_page1.htm (accessed on july 24th 2006).
SCOPE (2006), U.S. lacks adequate capacity to treat people with sleep disorders, IOM reports. Hospital and Health Networks, 80(5): 74.
Shanghai Ranking (2005), Academic ranking of World Universities: Top 500 World Universities. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Institute of Higher Education. http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005FullList2.pdf (accessed on July 13th 2006).
Shariq, K. (2005), Sleep centers in the U.S. reach 2,515 in 2004. Sleep, 28(1):145–146.
Shelton, R. D., Holdridge, G. M. (2004), The US-EU race for leadership of science and technology: Qualitative and quantitative indicators. Scientometrics, 60(3): 353–363.
Soteriades, E. S., Falagas, M. E. (2005), Comparison of amount of biomedical research originating from the European Union and the United States. British Medical Journal, 331: 192–194.
Stich, A., Abel, P. M., Krishna, S. (2002), Human African trypanosomiasis. British Medical Journal, 325: 203–206.
Ware, J. C. (1988), Apparent decline in basic sleep research. Sleep Research, 17: 2.
Webb, W. B. (1991), Trends in the Sleep Literature: 1968-1988. Sleep, 14(2): 178–179.
Wells, M. (2006), The Sleep Racket. Forbes, 177(4): 81–86. [also available online http://www.forbes.com/global/2006/0227/058A_print.html]
Wilson, C. S. (1999), Informetrics. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 34: 107–247.
Wilson, C. S., Markusova, V. A. (2004), Changes in the scientific output of Russia from 1980 to 2000, as reflected in the Science Citation Index, in relation to national politico-economic changes. Scientometrics, 59(3): 345–389.
Wu, Y., Pan, Y., Zhang, Y., Ma, Z., Pang, J., Guo, H., Xu, B., Yang, Z. (2004), China Scientific and Technical Papers and Citations (CSTPC): History, impact and outlook. Scientometrics, 60(3): 385–397.
Xu, W., Chen, Y.-Z., Shen, Z.-C. (2003), Neuroscience output of China: A MEDLINE-based bibliometric study. Scientometrics, 57(3): 399–409.
Zhou P., Leydesdorff L. (2006), The emergence of China as a leading nation in science. Research Policy, 35: 83–104.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Robert, C., Wilson, C.S., Gaudy, JF. et al. The evolution of the sleep science literature over 30 years: A bibliometric analysis. Scientometrics 73, 231–256 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1780-2
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1780-2