Hospice palliative care article publications: An analysis of the Web of Science database from 1993 to 2013.
BACKGROUND
Academic publications are important for developing a medical specialty or discipline and improvements of quality of care. As hospice palliative care medicine is a rapidly growing medical specialty in Taiwan, this study aimed to analyze the hospice palliative care-related publications from 1993 through 2013 both worldwide and in Taiwan, by using the Web of Science database.


METHODS
Academic articles published with topics including "hospice", "palliative care", "end of life care", and "terminal care" were retrieved and analyzed from the Web of Science database, which includes documents published in Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Indexed journals from 1993 to 2013. Compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) were calculated to evaluate the trends of publications.


RESULTS
There were a total of 27,788 documents published worldwide during the years 1993 to 2013. The top five most prolific countries/areas with published documents were the United States (11,419 documents, 41.09%), England (3620 documents, 13.03%), Canada (2428 documents, 8.74%), Germany (1598 documents, 5.75%), and Australia (1580 documents, 5.69%). Three hundred and ten documents (1.12%) were published from Taiwan, which ranks second among Asian countries (after Japan, with 594 documents, 2.14%) and 16(th) in the world. During this 21-year period, the number of hospice palliative care-related article publications increased rapidly. The worldwide CAGR for hospice palliative care publications during 1993 through 2013 was 12.9%. As for Taiwan, the CAGR for publications during 1999 through 2013 was 19.4%. The majority of these documents were submitted from universities or hospitals affiliated to universities.


CONCLUSIONS
The number of hospice palliative care-related publications increased rapidly from 1993 to 2013 in the world and in Taiwan; however, the number of publications from Taiwan is still far below those published in several other countries. Further research is needed to identify and try to reduce the barriers to hospice palliative care research and publication in Taiwan.
Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Institute of Public Health and Community Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Hsiao-Ting
HT
Chang
Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Ming-Hwai
MH
Lin
School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Chun-Ku
CK
Chen
Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: sjhwang@vghtpe.gov.tw.
Shinn-Jang
SJ
Hwang
College of Healthcare Administration and Management, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
I-Hsuan
IH
Hwang
School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Teaching and Research, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan, Taiwan, ROC.
Yu-Chun
YC
Chen
D016208:Databases, Factual; D017051:Hospice Care; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D011642:Publications; D013997:Time Factors
Web of Science; end of life care; hospice palliative care; publications; terminal care