A bibliometric analysis of Koro syndrome

Abstract

Objective: Koro is a culture-bound syndrome that primarily affects males in China, South Asia and Africa. Our objective was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the available published literature on koro, to date. Materials and methods: The Scopus database was searched, from inception, for publications on koro using a combination of terms “koro syndrome” or “genital retraction”. The available articles were screened to identify those relevant. Results: A total of 62 relevant articles were found in the Scopus database and included in the study. The majority (n=46;74.2%) of these were original articles. Then medicine (n=61;98%) followed by psychology (n=8; 12.9%) were the common originating specialities for research on koro. The oldest publication was in 1973; the maximum number of publications was in 1990 (n=6;9.68%,) followed by 2005 (n=5;8.06%). The British Journal of Psychiatry published the maximum number of articles on koro (n=6). The Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, Journal of Urology and Medicine Clinica had 3(4.8%) publications each. A total of 131 authors from 67 institutes and 24 countries contributed to research output on koro; of them, most publications were from the US (n=10). Conclusion: Although koro is a well-known entity, the number of publications on koro is scarce, sporadic and not globally representative.