Publications about hearing in otorhinolaryngology journals from chinese authors: a 11-year survey of the literature.

Hearing loss is a leading cause of disability in China. However, the research status in the field of hearing among Chinese individuals in the three major regions of China: Mainland (ML), Hong Kong (HK) and Taiwan (TW), are unknown. The output of hearing articles published in international otorhinolaryngology journals from these three regions were compared in this study. Articles published in 31 international otorhinolaryngology journals related to hearing originating from the ML, TW and HK from 2000 to 2011 were retrieved from the PubMed database search. The number of total articles, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, case reports, and articles published in the top 5 international otorhinolaryngology journals were assessed in terms of quantity and quality comparisons. The total number of articles from the three regions increased significantly from 2000 to 2011. There were 379 articles from ML (143), TW (180) and HK (56) in the past 10 years. The number of articles published per year from the ML has exceeded those from TW in 2009 and HK in 2003. TW had the most articles (46) published in the top 5 international otorhinolaryngology journals among the three regions. The total number of articles from the three major regions of China increased significantly from 2000 to 2011. The numbers of articles published per year from the ML have exceeded those from TW and HK. However, the quality of articles from TW is better than that from ML.