title: Scientific Productivity on Research in Ethical Issues over the Past Half Century: A JoinPoint Regression Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ethics is one of the main pillars in the development of science. We performed a JoinPoint regression analysis to analyze the trends of ethical issue research over the past half century. The question is whether ethical issues are neglected despite their importance in modern research.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed electronic library was used to retrieve publications of all fields and ethical issues. JoinPoint regression analysis was used to identify the significant time trends of publications of all fields and ethical issues, as well as the proportion of publications on ethical issues to all fields over the past half century. Annual percent changes (APC) were computed with their 95% confidence intervals, and a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that publications of ethical issues increased during the period of 1965-1996 but slightly fell in recent years (from 1996 to 2013). When comparing the absolute number of ethics related articles (APEI) to all publications of all fields (APAF) on PubMed, the results showed that the proportion of APEI to APAF statistically increased during the periods of 1965-1974, 1974-1986, and 1986-1993, with APCs of 11.0, 2.1, and 8.8, respectively. However, the trend has gradually dropped since 1993 and shown a marked decrease from 2002 to 2013 with an annual percent change of -7.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Scientific productivity in ethical issues research on over the past half century rapidly increased during the first 30-year period but has recently been in decline. Since ethics is an important aspect of scientific research, we suggest that greater attention is needed in order to emphasize the role of ethics in modern research.
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City , 217 Hong Bang, District 5, Ho Chi Minh 70000, Vietnam ; Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ).
authors.forename: Nguyen Phuoc
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ) ; Department of Clinical Product Development, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University , 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Nguyen Tien
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Huy
authors.affiliation: Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ) ; University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Hue City , Hue City, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Nguyen Thi Huyen
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Trang
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City , 217 Hong Bang, District 5, Ho Chi Minh 70000, Vietnam ; Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ).
authors.forename: Nguyen Thien
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.affiliation: Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ) ; School of Medicine, Vietnam National University , Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh 70000, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Nguyen Hoang
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Anh
authors.affiliation: Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ) ; School of Medicine, Vietnam National University , Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh 70000, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Tran Diem
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Nghi
authors.affiliation: Online Research Club ( http://onlineresearchclub.org ) ; School of Medicine, Vietnam National University , Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh 70000, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Mai Van
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Hieu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunogenetics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University , 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirayama
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Product Development, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University , 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Juntra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karbwang
keywords: Ethical issue; JoinPoint regression; bibliometrics; medical ethics; neglected; research productivity; trend