Magnetic resonance imaging. Density equalizing mapping analysis of global research architecture

Despite the great medical importance, there is still no comprehensive scientometric analysis regarding the results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the development of the importance for the healthcare system. This paper evaluated and analyzed the entire research publication results on the topic of MRI for the period 1981-2007 based on scientometric methods and parameters. A scientometric analysis (database: ISI Web of Science 1981-2007, search terms MRI and magnetic resonance imaging) was performed. The following parameters were analyzed: number of publications, countries of publication, number of citations, citation rate and collaborations, using various analytical and display techniques, including density equalizing map projections. Most of the 49,122 publications on MRI could be attributed to the USA (32.5 %), which also has the most cooperative collaborations. Within Europe, Germany (10.3 %) is the country with the highest number of publications followed by the UK (9.3 %). The western industrialized nations dominate over the rest of the world in terms of scientific developments of MRI. The thematic focus of the publications lies in the fields of radiology and neuroscience. In addition to the journal Neurology most scientific articles were published in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Circulation. The results show that the current trend is continuing and the scientific interest in MRI is continuously increasing.