Mapping international collaboration in tuberculosis research from 1998 to 2017 A scientometric study

Background: TB is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause froma single infectious agent. The study characterize the developmental trends and collaboration features in the field of tuberculosis (TB) at the national level and identify high-impact countries. Methods: Scientometrics and social network analysis methods were used to analyze the research situation and collaboration behaviors based on TB research indexed in Web of Science from 1998 to 2017. Results: The publication output, national collaborative rate, and collaborative level have steadily increased from 1998 to 2017. However, domestic publications still account for a substantial proportion of a nation's publications. Over time, the numbers of national publications and international collaborative publications have increased in total, but the growth trend of their share as a proportion of total national publications is not significant. The United States of America has the largest number of highly cited publications, while Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Sweden have higher values of average relative citation than do other countries. Notably, the United Kingdom and South Africa have established the strongest and most stable collaboration. Conclusions: There was increasing research activity and collaboration in the field of TB during the period 1998 to 2017, but growth shows wide variability between countries. Further comprehensive and full collaboration should be promoted.