Characterizing scientific production of Italian Oral Surgery professionals through evaluation of bibliometric indices.

The aim of this study was to characterize the scientific production of Italian Oral Surgery professionals by evaluating different bibliometric indices. The bibliometric evaluation was conducted on the Scopus Database upon all the Active Members joining three important Italian scientific societies in Oral Surgery (SIdCO, SIO, and SICOI). The scientific production was analysed by considering the number of total publications, number of total citations, h-index, and hc-index. Moreover, the overall sample was divided into two groups (Academics and Not Academics), according to the fact the professionals had or not a university position, and then into sub-groups according to the different career lengths. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the scientific productivity amongst groups. For all the considered parameters a lack of homogeneity between groups was reported, and significantly greater mean values were recorded for the Academics compared to the Not Academics Group. Moreover, the h-index values increased more regularly as the career length progressed than the hc-index values, even if the last seemed to be less variable. h- and hc-indices are both stable bibliometric parameters, but as the hc-index values are related not only to the number of citation but also to their age, it seems to be less influenced by the authors' career length. Bibliometric analysis of the scientific production in dentistry may facilitate the recognition of factors that may further enhance research activity and clinical performance and be useful for a comparative assessment of authors or research groups in terms of quality and quantity of the scientific production.