The mapping of Global Research on electronic cigarettes showed that prof. Riccardo Polosa (CoEHAR Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of HArm Reduction, University of Catania) and prof. Maciej L. Goniewicz (Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA) are the most influential authors and the most important researchers in the e-cigarettes research field.
Catania, 8 August 2022 – Electronic cigarettes use has increased rapidly in the past decades and has been widely studied by scholars worldwide. Invented by a Chinese pharmacist in 2003 and further improved in the following years, e-cigarettes were exported all over the world in 2006. Thereafter, the sale of e-cigarettes has been increasing yearly and is currently a multibillion dollars industry.
In 2013, the ECLAT study, conducted by a team of scientists led by the foresight of prof. Riccardo Polosa, has been the first research in the world to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes as an alternative method to quit smoking.
“The Mapping of Global Research on Electronic Cigarettes: A Bibliometric Analysis” aims to provide a comprehensive snapshot of e-cigarette research from 2000 to June 2021.
The authors (Xuechao Li, Ting Zhang, Liang Zhao, Qiling Liu, Chuandao Shi and Rongqiang Zhang) show a total of 7,979 records identified in the database and the number of researches increased rapidly since 2010.
<<The Figure illustrates the web of collaborations among the most prolific institutions. The University of Catania, home of the CoEHAR, is the only academic institution of mainland Europe in this network, proving its excellence in the field of e-cigarette research along with the most prestigious USA and UK Universities.>>All publications involved 19.837 authors, with the top ten authors contributing to 8.71% of all documents. The hot topics on e-cigarette research were extensive and changed over the past decade. Most of the documents were published after 2014 and increased rapidly by the years. The number of publications reached the peak in 2020 for all growth patterns.
According to the conclusion of the research: “Maciej L. Goniewicz and Riccardo Polosa are shown to be the top ten authors and co-cited authors, indicating that these two scholars are active and influential researchers in the e-cigarette research field“.
Among the top ten co-cited authors, Konstantinos Farsalinos ranked first with 2281 citations followed by Maciej L. Goniewicz (2070, 1.88%), Jean-François Etter (1738, 1.60%), Peter Hajek (996, 0.90%), Riccardo Polosa (949, 0.86%), Christopher Bullen (936,0.85%), Jessica K. Pepper (886,0.81%), Neal Benowitz (823,0.74%).
The main research domains in this field were the prevalence, awareness, reasons for using e-cigarettes; e-cigarettes use for tobacco harm reduction; exposure in the population; and the relationship between e-cigarettes and tobacco and nicotine. The emergence of alternative reduced risk products, such as the electronic cigarettes, snus and tobacco-heated products is presenting new opportunities for tobacco control and prevention.
According to prof. Polosa: “The emergence of alternative reduced risk products, such as e-cigarettes, is providing new hope for million of smokers worldwide. It is imperative to accelerate efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality from smoking by subsidizing approved medications for smoking cessation and by promoting innovative technologies for smoking substitution”.
This bibliometric analysis confirms University of Catania’s authoritative role in high quality research on tobacco harm reduction. The University of Catania stands out alongside the world’s most prestigious academic institution for its academic achievements and productivity in e-cigarette research. This result has been possible thanks to the dedication and expertise of researchers working at the University’s Center of Excellence for the acceleration of HArm Reduction (CoEHAR).
