Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Magnesium alloys as orthopedic implant materials have given rise to more and more researchers' attention at home and abroad.
OBJECTIVE: To multivariately analyze the literature regarding magnesium alloys as metal implants in orthopedics through Science Citation Index Database (SCI).
DESIGN: Bibliometric analysis.
DATA RETRIEVAL: A retrieval was performed for the literature of magnesium alloys as metal implants used in orthopedics, including magnesium alloy, rod, screw or nail, bone plate published during 2002-01 and 2011-12 in SCI. The retrieval results were analyzed, and the trends were described in words and graphics.
SELECTIVE CRITERIA: Articles on magnesium alloys as metal implants in orthopedics included the following types: (1)Peer-reviewed original articles; (2)Reviews; (3)Meeting notes and abstracts; (4)Proceeding papers; (5)Editorial; (6)Letters. Exclusive criteria included (1)Articles unrelated to the study of magnesium alloys as metal implants in orthopedics. (2)Articles published before 2002. (3)Articles which were not published on journals. (4)Articles which were retrieved by phone or manually.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The literatures were analyzed by publication year, journal distribution, type of document, discipline distribution, citation frequency, national distribution, institutional information, the fund and authors.
RESULTS: A total of 388 articles on magnesium alloys as metal implants in orthopedics were retrieved in SCI database, in which most of papers were published as original articles. Six articles were identified as classic literature. The overall number of literature had an upward trend from 2002 to 2011. Materials Science Forum published most papers in this field (n=42, 10.83%).
CONCLUSION: This paper provides a valuable reference for researchers to understand the overview and present situation of this field in order to set further research.