Background: Campylobacter
species are widespread zoonotic pathogens.
Campylobacter jejuni
causes a form of
gastroenteritis called campylobacteriosis.
Campylobacter drug resistance is considered a serious threat. In order to
better understand national and international research output on
Campylobacter, we conducted this bibliometric
overview of publications on
Campylobacter. This study can be used to assess extent of interaction and response of
researchers, food regulators, and health policy makers to global burden of campylobacateriosis.
Methods: Scopus database was used to retrieve publications with the following keywords (
Campylobacter/
campylobacteriosis,
C. jejuni,
Campylobacter coli
). The study period was set from 2000 to 2015. All types of journal documents,
excluding errata, were considered. Bibliometric indicators such as annual growth of publications, country contribution,
international collaboration, and citation analysis were presented. The quality of retrieved data was indirectly assessed
by Hirsch index and impact factor of journals.
Results: A total of 5522 documents were retrieved with median (Q1–Q3) citations of 9 (2–23) and
h-index of
113. Annual number of publications showed a fluctuating increase. The core leading journals were
Applied and
Environmental Microbiology journal and
Journal of Food Protection with 246 (4.46%) publications for each. The
USA (1309; 23.6%) was the most productive country while Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (150; 2.7%) was the
most productive institution. Half of the top ten productive countries were European. France had the lowest
percentage (33.5%) of articles with international collaboration while Netherlands (57.7%) had the highest
percentage of articles with international collaboration. Approximately half (50.1%) of retrieved articles were
published in journals under the subject area of “immunology/microbiology”. Main themes in highly cited
articles were molecular biology/genetics and public health burden of campylobacteriosis. There were 728
(13.1%) articles on campylobacter-related drug resistance, and the top cited articles focused mainly on
increasing resistance to quinolones and fluoroquinolones.
Conclusions: There was a clear increase in number of publications on
Campylobacter. Rational use of
antimicrobials in humans, poultry, and animals is highly recommended. International collaboration is highly
required particularly in implementing new diagnostic screening technologies to minimize global health
burden of
Campylobacter and ensure food safety.
