A bibliometric approach to research into fibromyalgia

Objectives To obtain a general and updated vision of research into fibromyalgia for its better understanding. A productivity analysis (by year and author) and a content analysis (by journal and topic) was carried out. Methodology The computer databases of the Web of Knowledge: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) of the Web of Science were used. For the exploration of the topics a content analysis was done on a sample of 356 articles, obtained using a simple randomized procedure based on a random number table (risk α = .05; z α  = 1.96 ≈ 2; p = q = 0.5) with a sample error of 5%, with the purpose of reaching some general conclusions in the study of this topic area. Results and conclusions Overall, 3201 article references have been obtained. In the years 1998 to 2003 the production of scientific articles increased considerably (43.5%) in comparison to the previous period, from 1992 to 1997 (27.4%). In the past decade (1996–2005) the production of articles tripled with respect to the first fifteen years (1980–1995). There is an overall 306 different journals that publish on this subject. The topic area that received most attention has been the study of the physiopathologic mechanisms (31.01%). There is an increment in the articles of psychiatry and psycology in the last few years.