Analysis of a Collaborative Research Network of Botulinum Toxin Clinical Trials

Abstract

Recently, pharmaceutical companies have been striving to occupy a greater percentage of the global market with clinical research actively being conducted through mutual collaboration networks. In particular, the international Botulinum toxin (BT) market is characterized by intensifying competition. The majority of BT research has been conducted in the United States and Europe, whilst various countries have started their regional research through international collaboration networks. With this trend, this study aimed to examine the current collaboration trend and network of clinical trial research in the field of BT by employing both bibliometric and collaboration network analyses with one of the global academic and research databases. Based on the collaboration network, which is organized by 8,296 articles and 10,298 institutes, four centrality measures successfully present several international and regional clinical BT research leading institutes. Moreover, there are some hidden active institutes in this area, which are not highlighted in this paper’s bibliometric analysis. This study contributes to improving the understanding of clinical trials in BT research, a relevant medical topic. Moreover, collaboration network analysis is one of the most valuable approaches of examining the international and regional clinical research.