DNA barcoding publications

I searched the Scopus database for peer-reviewed literature that referenced any of four seminal barcode papers (Hebert et al. 2003; Hollingsworth et al. 2009; Schoch et al. 2012; Stoeckle and Hebert 2008). The search, conducted in January 2015, yielded 3557 scientific journal publications from 2003-2014. I, and a research assistant, extracted variables for each article including: publication source; publication year; number of citations; and author names and institutional affiliations. A research assistant trained in programming used a customized computer program to combine synonymous names of single individuals and separate identical names of different individuals. From this database I generated variables for presence of authors with institutional affiliations in high, middle, or low income countries (World Bank 2016); presence of authors from mega-biodiverse countries (Mittermeier 1997); and whether or not the paper was published in a highly ranked journal. I assigned an income variable using four-categories of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita levels from the World Bank (upper income, >=$12,476; upper middle income, $4,036 to $12,475; lower middle income $1,026 to $4,035; and low income, ≤$1,025). I used InCites Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters 2016) to identify the top 10 ranking journals in each field category relevant to DNA barcoding.