Characteristics of Croatian clinical medicine: a 22-year bibliometric study

Abstract

Bibliometric analyses have been increasingly used for assessing science, as they provide valuable insights into the dynamics of scientific research. Using the affiliations of Croatian hospitals, we retrieved publications records from Scopus covering the 2003-2024 period and conducted a bibliometric performance analysis. The total number of publications did not statistically significantly increase over time (incidence rate ratio [IRR] per year=1.05, p=0.18). In contrast, the proportion of open-access publications increased significantly (odds ratio [OR] per year=1.21, p<0.001). Median citations per publication exhibited a strong increasing monotonic trend over time (Spearman’s ρ=0.78, p<0.001). The 18 journals with the highest number of publications were all published in Croatia and collectively accounted for 38.5 % of all retrieved publications. Among them, a publication from a single Croatian journal, Biochemia Medica, was in the 100 most-cited publications. The 10 most prolific authors by number of publications were predominantly affiliated with institutions located in the capital of Croatia – Zagreb, which accounted for 64.9 % of all affiliations among these authors. This analysis demonstrated the evolution of scientific research of Croatian clinicians, characterized by growth in open access and citations, as well as a strong geographical centralization.