{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T05:09:29Z","timestamp":1772168969658,"version":"3.50.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.17581.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,18]],"date-time":"2019-07-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1563408000000}}],"reference-count":23,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,18]],"date-time":"2019-07-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1563408000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Universidad Franz Tamayo"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["f1000research.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["F1000Res"],"abstract":"<ns4:p>\n                    Given the emergence and reemergence of tick-borne diseases, here we assessed the publishing patterns of research focused on\n                    <ns4:italic>Babesia<\/ns4:italic>\n                    . We also discuss the implications for the articles published in the last decade, and how more clinical and epidemiological information concerning\n                    <ns4:italic>Babesia<\/ns4:italic>\n                    is still required. The findings of this article would be useful to define research priorities about\n                    <ns4:italic>Babesia<\/ns4:italic>\n                    and diagnose the important of scientific production on this pathogen.\n                  <\/ns4:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.17581.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,18]],"date-time":"2019-07-18T12:55:07Z","timestamp":1563454507000},"page":"1987","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Research on Babesia: A bibliometric assessment of a neglected tick-borne parasite"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9773-2192","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alfonso J.","family":"Rodriguez-Morales","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"D. Katterine","family":"Bonilla-Aldana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Juan Pablo","family":"Escalera-Antezana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lucia Elena","family":"Alvarado-Arnez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref-1","first-page":"132-8","article-title":"Epidemiolog\u00eda de la Babesiosis: Zoonosis emergente.","volume":"5","author":"A Rodriguez-Morales","year":"2007","journal-title":"Acta Cient Estud."},{"key":"ref-2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"627-39","DOI":"10.20506\/rst.34.2.2385","article-title":"Babesiosis.","volume":"34","author":"F Beugnet","year":"2015","journal-title":"Rev Sci Tech."},{"key":"ref-3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-ento-011118-111932","article-title":"Vectors of Babesiosis.","author":"J Gray","year":"2018","journal-title":"Annu Rev Entomol."},{"key":"ref-4","first-page":"117-22","article-title":"Human babesial infections in Europe.","volume":"41","author":"P Brasseur","year":"1996","journal-title":"Rocz Akad Med Bialymst."},{"key":"ref-5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13-4","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tmaid.2018.06.012","article-title":"Mitigation of the global impact of Lassa fever: Have we investigated enough about this Arenavirus? - A bibliometric analysis of Lassa Fever research.","volume":"24","author":"A Almeida-Guerrero","year":"2018","journal-title":"Travel Med Infect Dis."},{"key":"ref-6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.6206.2","article-title":"Publications in PubMed on Ebola and the 2014 outbreak.","volume":"4","author":"A Ballabeni","year":"2015","journal-title":"F1000Res."},{"key":"ref-7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"97-8","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tmaid.2018.04.010","article-title":"Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome - A bibliometric analysis of an emerging priority disease.","volume":"23","author":"A Rodr\u00edguez-Morales","year":"2018","journal-title":"Travel Med Infect Dis."},{"key":"ref-8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"194","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.10936.2","article-title":"Bibliometric analysis of Oropouche research: impact on the surveillance of emerging arboviruses in Latin America.","volume":"6","author":"C Culquichic\u00f3n","year":"2017","journal-title":"F1000Res."},{"key":"ref-9","article-title":"Bibliometric Data of Babesia.","author":"A Rodriguez-Morales","year":"2018","journal-title":"OSF."},{"key":"ref-10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"61-3","DOI":"10.5811\/cpcem.2017.8.35924","article-title":"A Walk in the Park: A Case of Babesiosis in the South Bronx.","volume":"2","author":"C Hajicharalambous","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin Pract Cases Emerg Med."},{"key":"ref-11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"609-10","DOI":"10.1016\/j.transci.2017.08.002","article-title":"Is babesiosis the most common transfusion transmitted infection in the United States of America? The answer is not simple!","volume":"56","author":"R Jajosky","year":"2017","journal-title":"Transfus Apher Sci."},{"key":"ref-12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"660-8","DOI":"10.1111\/trf.14476","article-title":"Transfusion-transmitted and community-acquired babesiosis in New York, 2004 to 2015.","volume":"58","author":"J Linden","year":"2018","journal-title":"Transfusion."},{"key":"ref-13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"687-91","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6626a2","article-title":"Babesiosis Surveillance - Wisconsin, 2001-2015.","volume":"66","author":"E Stein","year":"2017","journal-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep."},{"key":"ref-14","first-page":"628-34","article-title":"[First documentation of transfusion-associated babesiosis in Japan].","volume":"41","author":"T Matsui","year":"2000","journal-title":"Rinsho Ketsueki."},{"key":"ref-15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4316-22","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.39.12.4316-4322.2001","article-title":"Human babesiosis in Japan: epizootiologic survey of rodent reservoir and isolation of new type of Babesia microti-like parasite.","volume":"39","author":"M Tsuji","year":"2001","journal-title":"J Clin Microbiol."},{"key":"ref-16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"332","DOI":"10.1111\/jsap.12487","article-title":"Autochthonous babesiosis in the United Kingdom.","volume":"57","author":"S Cook","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Small Anim Pract."},{"key":"ref-17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"469-88","DOI":"10.1016\/j.idc.2008.03.010","article-title":"Human babesiosis.","volume":"22","author":"E Vannier","year":"2008","journal-title":"Infect Dis Clin North Am."},{"key":"ref-18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68-70","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tmaid.2017.08.004","article-title":"Kyasanur forest disease: Another flavivirus requiring more research? Results of a bibliometric assessment.","volume":"19","author":"A Rodriguez-Morales","year":"2017","journal-title":"Travel Med Infect Dis."},{"key":"ref-19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"295-6","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jiph.2017.07.018","article-title":"What has been researched about MDR-Candida auris? A bibliometric analysis on the 'new kid on the block' in hospital-associated infections.","volume":"11","author":"A Rodriguez-Morales","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Infect Public Health."},{"key":"ref-20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"386-8","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jiph.2015.03.006","article-title":"Bibliometric assessment of scientific production of literature on chikungunya.","volume":"8","author":"F Vera-Polania","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Infect Public Health."},{"key":"ref-21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"195-201","DOI":"10.2174\/1574891X10666150410153224","article-title":"Bibliometric assessment of the Latin-American contributions in dengue.","volume":"9","author":"F Vera-Polania","year":"2014","journal-title":"Recent Pat Antiinfect Drug Discov."},{"key":"ref-22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1-11","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.ss6806a1","article-title":"Babesiosis Surveillance - United States, 2011-2015.","volume":"68","author":"E Gray","year":"2019","journal-title":"MMWR Surveill Summ."},{"key":"ref-23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"687-691","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6626a2","article-title":"Babesiosis Surveillance - Wisconsin, 2001-2015.","volume":"66","author":"E Stein","year":"2017","journal-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep."}],"container-title":["F1000Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,25]],"date-time":"2019-07-25T07:10:11Z","timestamp":1564038611000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,18]]},"references-count":23,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.17581.2","relation":{"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.21848.r51373","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.21848.r51373","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2046-1402"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2046-1402","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,18]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.21848.r51373, Stalin Vilcarromero, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, USA, 25 Jul 2019, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2#referee-response-51373","order":0,"name":"referee-response-51373","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.19225.r44953, Jeremy S. Gray, UCD School of Biology & Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 26 Feb 2019, version 1, 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v1#referee-response-44953","order":1,"name":"referee-response-44953","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Alfonso Rodriguez-Morales<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 07 Jul 2019<\/i>; Dear Dr. Gray&nbsp;Thanks for your comments. We have revised and improved the manuscript. In regard to your observations, we would like to comment and discuss, in the context of the submission a new revised version (version 2).&nbsp;\n<b>This article attempts to assess the bibliographic status of Babesia parasites with the declared objective of identifying research priorities in order to achieve effective prevention and control of babesiosis. The authors have produced publication data from various sources showing trends over the years and also by citation, author, institute and country.<\/b>&nbsp;The objective of this bibliometric study was not to \u201cidentifying research priorities in order to achieve effective prevention and control of babesiosis\u201d, which would be impossible from this type of study. What we really declared is \u201cThe findings of this article would be useful to define research priorities about Babesia and diagnose the important of scientific production on this pathogen\u201d (final line of the abstract)&nbsp;\n<b>Unfortunately the article has major deficiencies. The most obvious of these is that the human and animal versions of the disease have been conflated so that the data are more or less meaningless. The economic impact, research priorities and research constraints are very different in veterinary compared with medical babesiosis. In fact it is possible to argue that even the parasites are different, since the vast majority of human cases are caused by a parasite (<i>Babesia microti<\/i>) that is only distantly related to those prevalent in veterinary babesiosis (<i>Babesia <\/i>sensu stricto), and there are differences in their biology such as presence or absence of transovarial transmission, sensitivity to antibabesials, availability of in vitro cultures etc.<\/b>&nbsp;We thank the reviewer for the observation, although we consider that today, the vision of zoonoses should be an integrated one. Then, having separated human and animal babesiosis, to us, is not rationale. Babesiosis is one zoonotic disease, no matter the host. The work on babesiosis should be together between veterinarians and human physicians, working in the interphase that zoonoses, such as babesiosis, provide. One World, One Health.&nbsp;\n<b>Additionally, it is difficult to see the point of counting numbers of articles published by different countries, authors, institutions etc. Cross comparison of these data is invidious since different interests and time scales are involved. Such data may tell the reader something about where there has been sufficient interest for research funding but nothing about the nature of the research, which is necessary to identify areas of neglect. It would have been much more useful to break the data down by topic. For example, how many articles are in the area of pure immunological research, usually involving rodents, how many address therapeutic issues, how many vaccination, how many epidemiology etc. Only then would it be possible to see where the gaps are, particularly in relation to practical measures, particularly if accompanied by analytical comments. The superficial approach of this article certainly does not, especially when there has been no attempt to explain the trends presented in the figures.<\/b>&nbsp;Bibliometric studies quantify and compare the scientific output on specific and general topics. That is the idea and the design, that has been a base consensus in this type of studies. Nevertheless, we have included additional information in regards the areas of research related to Babesia as well as the funding sponsors, from both Scopus and Web of Sciences.&nbsp;\n<b>The authors have identified some research areas that require more attention, for example blood transfusion infection in the USA, development of vaccines (presumably molecular), development of new antibabesials, but have not provided the necessary context or evidence for these conclusions.<\/b>&nbsp;That would be more related to other kind of studies. If required, a specific study (e.g. review) about that should be designed, to address those specific topics.&nbsp;\n<b>Some important issues that the authors seem to have ignored completely, include the development and successful use of live vaccines for cattle babesiosis over a long period of time, the prodigious, but failed efforts, to produce molecular vaccines against cattle babesiosis (which indicates the very great difficulty involved in the development of vaccines for human use), the change in direction and emphasis of babesiosis research in general with the discovery of <i>B. microti<\/i> in the US, and epidemiological issues such as the extension of the geographical range of infections, although briefly touched on in relation to the UK, for reasons that are not clear.<\/b>&nbsp;We agree with the reviewer that such points would be of interest. But our study characterizes as a bibliometric research note, and &nbsp;not a systematic review, or a bibliometric study about vaccines. Therefore, that was not an objective of our study.&nbsp;\n<b>The references make little mention of established authorities in the topic and there are at least five instances of self-citation. Finally there are many examples of poor sentence construction (e.g. the last part of the last sentence in the abstract, inaccurate statements (e.g. the first sentence in the Introduction and the first sentence in the second paragraph), unnecessary sentences (e.g. the third sentence in the second paragraph) etc. There are more of all these in the Discussion.<\/b>&nbsp;Thank you very much for the observation. In this revised version, we attended several of such issues in order to improve the manuscript.&nbsp;\n<b>Overall, the impression gained is that the authors have made use of readily available metrics on the internet, to present data that appear to have no useful meaning and have not attempted to analyze the data to achieve their stated objectives.<\/b>&nbsp;As previously indicated, in this revised version the manuscript has been improved. Although we would like to clarify that: i) the metrics presented in this research note were not available on the internet and ii) the databases that were evaluated are significant sources for bibliometric studies, to whom (Scopus and SCI-E Web of Knowledge) the Universidad Tecnol&oacute;gica de Pereira, in Colombia has valid subscriptions.","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2#referee-comment-4727","order":2,"name":"referee-comment-4727","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.19225.r43816, Cristina Casalone, Experimental Institute for Zooprophylaxis in Piedmont, Liguria and Valle D\u2019Aosta, Turin, Italy, 28 Feb 2019, version 1, 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v1#referee-response-43816","order":3,"name":"referee-response-43816","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Alfonso Rodriguez-Morales<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 07 Jul 2019<\/i>; Dear Dr. Casalone&nbsp;Thanks for your valuable comments. Regards them, we would like to comment and discuss, in the context of the submission a new revised version (version 2).&nbsp;\n<b>The manuscript submitted by Rodr&iacute;guez Morales et al. represents a bibliometric evaluation on Babesia, in order to contribute to understanding this neglected zoonosis and addressing future research and control strategies. Bibliometric evaluation is an excellent tool to obtain objective information about specific areas of research and support the adoption of strategic decisions. In detail, this study provides and summaries data on the research activity on Babesia worldwide. It shows that the main country involved in the research on Babesia is USA, where babesiosis is a notifiable disease since 2011 (CDC) and most human cases have been reported. Of interest the strong research activity of institutions and countries as Japan and UK, in which Babesia represents a new emerging problem both in animals and humans. This study highlights the increased research activity on this neglected zoonosis, considered of growing importance in several countries and the need of further studies addressed to preventive and therapeutic aspects.<\/b>&nbsp;We are thankful for your comments. In this revised version, we have included more information such as, an adjustment per capita of the number of publications per million population of the countries (Table 1). In the case of USA, where data from 2011 to 2015 was available, we analyzed and compared the number of reported cases in that period with the number of publications at Scopus, WoS and PubMed during the same time.&nbsp;\n<b>The manuscript, proposed as a research note, is well structured, the statistical analysis and its interpretation is sufficient, results and discussion appropriate. To fulfil F1000Research criteria (\u201cResearch note \u2026 can be reported with one or two illustrations (figures\/tables)\u201d), authors could reduce the number of figures\/graphs.<\/b>&nbsp;Thank you for the comments. Per request from the other reviewers, we actually have extended on analyses, data and figures in order to respond to their inquiries.&nbsp;\n<b>I suggest the following minor revisions in the text:<\/b>\n<b>In the Introduction:<\/b>\n<b>I suggest to add <i>Ixodes spp<\/i> as tick genera involved in the transmission of Babesia to humans. <\/b>Done. Included (Second line in Introduction section).\n<b>Indeed, in USA most reported human cases are attributed to <i>B. microti<\/i> transmitted to people by Ixodes scapularis. Moreover, most European human cases are caused by <i>B. divergens<\/i> and B. <i>venatorum<\/i>, primarly transmitted by <i>Ixodes ricinus1<\/i>.<\/b>Done. Included.&nbsp;\n<b>The authors should specify that the first case described in Croatia in 1957 by Skaraballo, refers to a \u201chuman\u201d case.<\/b>&nbsp;Done. Included (Fifth line in Introduction section).&nbsp;\n<b>Moreover, I suggest adding a sentence regarding the role of animal reservoirs and their distribution that contributes (as the presence of vectors) in the maintenance of the transmission cycle.<\/b>&nbsp;Done, now included (Final sentence in Introduction section).&nbsp;\n<b>In the Methods:<\/b>\n<b>You could clarify which and\/or how many countries have been used as keyword for the search pipeline<\/b>&nbsp;Now included (In Methods section after keyword specification).&nbsp;\n<b>Figure 6: In the caption: the citation trends is from Web of Science (as reported in the results), not Scopus.<\/b>&nbsp;Corrected.","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/7-1987\/v2#referee-comment-4728","order":4,"name":"referee-comment-4728","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"Universidad Franz Tamayo granted the Open Access fees for this publication.","order":5,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}