A longitudinal analysis of publications on maternal mortality

Abstract

Background The fifth Millennium Development Goal formulated by the WHO in, aimed to reduce global maternal mortality by, in, . We studied the extent to which medical research has supported this by studying maternal mortality. We performed a bibliometric analysis of the literature on maternal mortality and of the development of this literature over time. Methods We searched for publications on maternal mortality in the Web of Science database in the period, . We visualised the subjects of these publications using a term map showing the most significant terms occurring in the titles and abstracts of publications on maternal mortality. Results We identified, publications on maternal mortality in Web of Science. The annual number increased from, in, to, in, . The largest number of maternal mortality publications was found in the field of Obstetrics and Gynecology, followed by the Public, Environmental, and Occupational Health field, increase from, until, of, and, respectively, . In both fields, the number of maternal mortality publications has increased at a much higher rate than the overall number of publications in the field. Conclusions In line with the focus of the fifth Millennium Development Goal on reducing maternal mortality, during the past, years, there has been a steady increase in the amount of attention paid to maternal mortality in the medical literature. This is largely driven by an increase, mainly in recent years, in public health research on maternal mortality.