Research on medical and veterinary entomology in the insular Caribbean: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Research on medical and veterinary entomology (MVE) is especially needed in the Caribbean islands, which are threatened by the burden of several arthropod species due to their tropical climate and environment. Identifying relevant MVE-related scientific activity in these countries and examining the characteristics of its outputs can aid in the analysis of trends, knowledge gaps and decision-making in vector-borne disease research management. This study used bibliometric methods to understand how research in this discipline developed in the insular Caribbean countries during the first two decades of this century. Data were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection™ and SciELO Citation Index™. During the study period, the region’s scientific MVE production grew at a steady rate. Most studies focused on the order Diptera and the family Culicidae. Cuba is the largest regional producer. The predominance and growing trend of international scientific collaboration were observed. These scientific results are scattered and mainly published in journals in the United States and European countries. Recent MVE studies in the insular Caribbean have been promising; it is crucial to ensure knowledge transfer across generations of researchers to generate trained human resources that will allow these studies to continue in each country in the future.