Genesis of research on burn injury (analysis of domestic articles in 2005–2017)

Relevance. According to the Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat), (315.8 ± 8.5) thousand thermal and chemical burns or (220.6 ± 6.5) burns per 100 thousand people of the country’s population were recorded annually in Russia in 2005–2015. These injuries account for 2.4 % of the structure of all injuries in Russia. Intention. Analysis of the content of scientific journal articles of domestic authors on burn injuries Methodology. We conducted a search in the electronic database of the Scientific Electronic Library, which made it possible to identify in 2005–2017 1649 scientific journal articles of domestic authors. The average annual number of articles on burn injury indexed in the Russian Science Citation Index was (127 ± 13). There is an increase in the interest of researchers to the problems of burns. The content of the articles correlated with the developed classifier for burn injury. Results and Discussion. General questions of burn injuries were described in 1.6 %, problems of organization of medical care for burn victims – in 4.9 %, characteristics of burn injuries – in 42.9 %, information on diagnostics, treatment, probable complications and rehabilitation of victims – in 41.3 %, experimental studies of burn injury in animals – in 9.3 % of publications. The presented indicators reflected the content of the articles, and, to some extent, objective data. For example, superficial and limited burns were studied to a lesser extent, although they actually prevail. As a rule, the object of research was complex cases that could be of increased interest among readers. The weighted average impact factor of the journals in which the articles were published was 0.304, the average number of citations per article was 1.42, 42.6 % of the articles were cited at least once, Hirsch index was 15. Some authors used inadequate study design. When preparing publications, the groups of authors were often redundant, which resulted in a significant decrease in the number of articles and citations per 1 coauthor. Conclusion . The study helps optimize research in the field of burn injuries. Among the created array of articles, 74.2 % of publications had a full text, 69.4 % of articles were provided free of charge to registered readers of the Scientific Electronic Library.