An In-Depth Bibliometric Analysis and Current Perspective on Male infertility Research

Purpose: Male infertility is emerging as a major, escalating global health problem that imposes the need to investigate research trends in male infertility. The purpose of this study is to analyze male infertility research trends in the past 20 years using the bibliometric database from Scopus. Materials and Methods: In order to perform an in-depth bibliometric analysis, we propose a ‘Funnel Model’, which includes several layers representing different sub-areas of male infertility research. Adopting this Funnel Model, using Scopus, we retrieved relevant bibliometric data (articles per year, authors, affiliations, journals, and countries) for various areas of male infertility research and performed descriptive statistics. Results: The bibliometric analysis showed an exponential increase in male infertility research in the last 20 years. USA dominated in research output, with Agarwal, A. as the most prolific researcher. Testicular cancer, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and azoospermia were found to dominate male infertility research, whereas erectile dysfunction and unexplained male infertility had lesser attention. Interestingly, prognostic/diagnostic and mechanistic studies have significantly increased in parallel over the last 20 years. Furthermore, our bibliometric analysis revealed fewer publications in proteomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics when compared to genomics. Also, an increasing trend in publication was seen in assisted reproductive technology (ART) research. Conclusions: An integrated and steep escalation in the field of omics and ART research appears to be a prerequisite for further development of future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for male infertility.研究目的：男性不育已成为日益严峻的全球性主要健康问题，亟需开展男性不育研究趋势的相关调研。本研究旨在利用Scopus文献计量数据库，分析近20年的男性不育研究趋势。 材料与方法：为开展深入的文献计量分析，本研究提出一种「漏斗模型」，该模型包含多个层级，分别对应男性不育研究的不同细分领域。依托该漏斗模型，我们通过Scopus数据库检索了男性不育各研究领域的相关文献计量数据（包括年度发文量、作者、机构、期刊及国家），并进行描述性统计分析。 结果：文献计量分析显示，近20年来男性不育领域的研究发文量呈指数级增长。美国在研究产出方面占据主导地位，Agarwal, A.是发文量最高的研究者。研究热点集中于睾丸癌、肥胖与代谢综合征以及无精子症，而勃起功能障碍及不明原因男性不育受到的关注较少。值得注意的是，近20年来预后/诊断研究与机制研究均呈现显著同步增长态势。此外，相较于基因组学研究，蛋白质组学、转录组学与代谢组学领域的发文量相对较少。辅助生殖技术（Assisted Reproductive Technology，ART）领域的研究发文量则呈逐年上升趋势。 结论：组学与辅助生殖技术（ART）领域的整合式高速发展，是未来开发男性不育诊断与治疗策略的必要前提。