Scientific Publications on Thyroid Ultrasound between 2001 and 2020: Differences in Research Characteristics by Disciplines

Objective To analyze the characteristics and trends of scientific publications on thyroid ultrasound (US) from 2001 to 2020, specifically examining the differences among disciplines. Materials and Methods The MEDLINE database was searched for scientific articles on thyroid US published between 2001 and 2020 using the PubMed online service. The evaluated parameters included year of publication, type of document, topic, funding, first author's specialty, journal name, subject category, impact factor, and quartile ranking of the publishing journal, country, and language. Relationships between the first author's specialty (radiology, internal medicine, surgery, otorhinolaryngology, and miscellaneous) and other parameters were analyzed. Results A total of 2917 thyroid US publications were published between 2001 and 2020, which followed an exponential growth pattern, with an annual growth rate of 11.6%. Radiology produced the most publications (n = 1290, 44.2%), followed by internal medicine (n = 716, 24.5%), surgery (n = 409, 14.0%), and otorhinolaryngology (n = 171, 5.9%). Otorhinolaryngology and internal medicine published significantly more case reports than radiology (pppp Conclusion Radiology produced the most publications for thyroid US than any other discipline. Radiology authors published more notably on imaging diagnosis compared to other topics and in journals with lower impact factors compared to authors in other disciplines.