Chondrichthyan research in South America : endocrinology overview and research trends over 50 years (1967-2016) compared to the rest of the world

The endocrine system plays a crucial role in regulating the activity of cells and organs among vertebrates, including the class Chondrichthyes. Accordingly, Chondrichthyan endocrinology publications have been steadily increasing in the global literature. However, while interest in South American Chondrichthyan research has been growing over the last 50 years, the field of endocrinology related to Chondrichthyans has been limited. Understanding the trajectory of a scientific discipline assists researchers and stakeholders in making decisions regarding which research areas require further attention. Further, visualisation techniques based on bibliometric analysis of scientific publications assist in understanding fluctuations in the trends of specific research fields over time. In this study, Chondrichthyan research publications over time were analysed by creating visualisation maps using VOSviewer bibliometric software. Trends in South America Chondrichthyan research with an emphasis on endocrinology were explored over a 50-year period (1967-2016). These trends were compared with Chondrichthyans research worldwide for the more recent 15-year period (2002-2016). The number of South America Chondrichthyan scientific publications increased from six during the 1967-1981 period to 112 in 2016. However, only eight papers were found published in the area of Chondrichthyan endocrinology research. Fisheries, reproduction and taxonomy were the dominate research areas in South America over the 50 years. For the more recent 15 years, South American publications comprised 11% of the total literature published globally. While South America research outputs fluctuated closely with global research trends, differences appeared when comparing areas of growth. This study describes the trends in Chondrichthyan research literature globally and more specifically in South America. Although South American countries may never contribute to the same scale as the wider international scientific community, the future of Chondrichthyans would strongly benefit from the contributions of the many diverse research groups around the world.