Rheumatoid arthritis: scientific development from a critical point of view.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is classified as a chronic, progressive, systemic autoimmune disorder leading to inflammation, stiffness, defective position and destruction of joints. Finally a complete loss of mobility and functioning can be the result. The fraction of disability varies strongly, for example, a systematic review shows a 50% disability in a period from first occurrence to disability from 4.5 to 22 years. Scientific efforts focused strongly on therapeutic and diagnostic methods during recent years. So far, there is no scientometric approach of the topic rheumatoid arthritis available although there is an increased need to evaluate quality and quantity of scientific research. Density-equalizing algorithms, scientometric methods and large scale data analysis were applied to evaluate the quality and quantity of scientific efforts in the field of rheumatoid arthritis. Data were gained from Pubmed and ISI-Web. During the period 1901-2007, 78,128 items were published by 129 countries including the USA, UK and Germany being the most productive suppliers, representing 45.7% of all publications. Another 23 countries published more than 100 items. In terms of international cooperation the USA proved to be the most successful partner. "Arthritis and Rheumatism", "Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases" and the "Journal of Rheumatology" are the most prolific journals. The current study is the first analysis of "rheumatoid arthritis" research activities and output. Our analysis revealed single areas of interest, the most prolific journals, authors and institutions dealing with the topic. Nevertheless, statements concerning the scientific quality should be considered critical due to a bias according to self-citation and co-authorship.