Evolution of the scientific literature on pain from 1976 to 2007.
OBJECTIVE
This study traces the evolution of the scientific literature on pain published during the last 30+ years (1976-2007).


METHODS
Using the Web of Science, pain-focused journal articles from the Science Citation Index Expanded published in 1977, 1987, 1997, and 2007 were retrieved and analyzed.


RESULTS
The number of pain-related publications rose from 1,562 articles for 1976-77 to 9,159 PubMed for 2006-2007, with slow growth for the period 1976-1995, and rapid increases from 1995-2007. The analysis of contributing countries showed two major players, the United States and the UK; the doubling of the number of countries involved in pain research from 40 in 1977 to 82 in 2007; and the appearance in 2007 of The Netherlands, Turkey, China, and Brazil among the top-15 most prolific contributors. During the 30-year period, the number of journals publishing pain-related research increased nearly 2.5-fold (363 journals in 1977 vs 972 in 2007), including 14 new, international pain-focused journals since 2000. Additionally, while there were only two pain journals (Pain and Headache) in 1977, 15 pain-focused journals were indexed in 2007 with the result that 17 of the top-20 pain-focused journals in 2007 did not exist in 1977.


CONCLUSIONS
The rapid evolution and explosion of pain research in the last 30+ years was reflected in substantial changes in the landscape of the contributing countries and in the scientific journals targeted by pain researchers.
Robert
Claude
C
Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, Laboratoire d'Anatomie Fonctionnelle, 1 rue Maurice Arnoux, Montrouge, France. claude.robert@parisdescartes.fr
Wilson
Concepción S
CS
Donnadieu
Stéphane
S
Gaudy
Jean-François
JF
Arreto
Charles-Daniel
CD
D015706:Bibliometrics; D003625:Data Collection; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010146:Pain; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000266:history*; D039781:PubMed; D011642:Publications