The baseline time span for this database is (publication years)
1999-April 30, 2009 from the second bimonthly update (a 10-year + 4-month
period). The resulting database contained 7,003 (10 years) and 1,764 (2
years) papers; 16,018 authors; 87 nations; 1,164 journals; and 3,529
institutions. See additional information below in the overview &
methodology sections.
Interviews, first-person essays, and profiles about
people in a wide variety of fields which pertain to
this special topic of Bisphenol A.
OVERVIEW
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound that is widely used in the
plastics industry. Although it has been suspected of being hazardous to
human health since the 1930s, only recently have serious inquiries into its
safety been conducted by government and regulatory agencies, resulting in
some sellers pulling products containing BPA from their shelves.
This month, Special Topics examines the literature on BPA over the past
decade and over the past two years. The initial data pool was created using
the search terms "bisphenol A" or "BPA" in titles, abstracts, and keywords
of original articles, reviews, and proceedings papers published between
January 1, 1999 and April 30, 2009. To make the paper lists more targeted
to research specifically dealing with BPA, we restricted the search further
with the same keywords, but only in the titles.
Papers from the past 10 years cover a wide variety of topics, including
estrogenic activity and other toxic effects of BPA in rats, mice, and
humans. These effects include increased susceptibility to prostate
carcinogenesis and epigenetic regulation of phosphodiesterases in rats,
meiotic aneuploidy and altered development and tissue organization of
mammary glands in the mouse, advanced puberty in human females, and genital
abnormalities in human males. Monitoring and dealing with BPA levels in the
water supply and the effects on wildlife like fish and snails are also
addressed.
The two-year list of papers covers many similar topics, particularly with
regard to deleterious effects of prenatal BPA exposure on the mammary gland
in rats and mice. Other areas of BPA research highlighted on the two-year
list include urinary BPA levels as they relate to medical disorders and
laboratory test abnormalities in human adults, human exposure assessment
reports, chemical process and physical characteristic studies at the
polymer level, and proposed methods for the removal of BPA and other
related chemicals from wastewater, such as ultrasound/UV/iron (II)
treatment and enzyme preparations.
Methodology: The baseline time span for
this database is (publication years) 1999-April 30, 2009 from the
second bimonthly update (a 10-year + 4-month period). The resulting
database contained 7,003 (10 years) and 1,764 (2 years) papers; 16,018
authors; 87 nations; 1,164 journals; and 3,529 institutions.
Papers: To construct the top 20 papers lists for the past
decade and the past two years, the papers were further narrowed down by the
title keywords "BISPHENOL A" OR "BPA." This adjustment resulted in the top
20 papers being selected from a pool of 1,056 (10 years) and 247 (2 years)
papers.
Rankings: Once the database was in place, it was used to
generate list of authors, journals, institutions, and nations. Rankings for
author, journal, institution, and country are listed in three ways:
according to total cites, total papers, and total cites/paper*. The paper
thresholds and corresponding percentages used to determine scientist,
institution, country, and journal rankings according to total cites/paper,
and total papers respectively are as follows:
Entity
Authors
Institutions
Nations
Journals
Thresholds
12
38
12
19
Percentage:
1%
1%
50%
50%
*Unless otherwise specified, all rankings have a
5 paper threshold for all measures.