The present study is an evaluation of published papers in the field of scientometrics–bibliometrics in veterinary or animal studies. The objective was the quantitative evaluation of the scientific content and the bibliometric details of papers that had used scientometrics as a methodological approach to assess various topics within the broad field of veterinary or animal studies. For the search of published papers, the Web of Science database was used; the search string {ALL FIELDS = [scientometric* OR bibliometric*]} AND {ALL FIELDS = [veterinary OR animal*]} was employed. In all, 163 papers were evaluated individually. There was a progressive increase in the number of papers published annually (slope 0.314 ± 0.063) which originated from 58 countries, mostly from the United States of America (n = 24) and 306 organizations. The databases employed most frequently for record search were the Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed (in 105, 60 and 21 papers, respectively); the median timespan of the searches was 25 years (interquartile range (IQR): 31) and the median number of records was 1082.5 (IQR: 4708) (min.: 14, max.: 207,894). The papers were published in 106 journals (Animals (n = 21), Scientometrics (n = 8)), classified into 56 Web of Science categories (‘veterinary sciences’ (n = 26 journals)). Searches related to 88 different topics. There were 517 unique keywords in the papers, among which ‘bibliometric(s)’ (n = 45) occurred most often. The median number of co-authors per paper was 4 (IQR: 3) (min.: 1, max.: 17), with a total of 689 individual authors. Most papers (n = 110 (67.5%)) were published under open access. The median number of citations received per paper was 4 (IQR: 9) (max.: 68) and the h-index was 21. In multivariable analysis, the higher number of cited references in papers and the inclusion of specific animal species in the record search emerged as significant for the number of citations received per paper yearly.

The objectives were: (i) mapping of bibliometric characteristics of publications related to sheep and goats internationally, (ii) comparison of publications related to each animal species, and (iii) comparison of characteristics in a 55-year long timespan from 1970 to 2024. The Web of Science was used with the following search terms: [sheep OR ovine OR Ovis aries] or [goat* OR caprine OR Capra hircus].account, and 165,052 papers related to sheep and 67,637 papers related to goats were considered. There was a progressive increase in papers published annually, with a higher proportion of papers related to goats published recently. Most papers were published in Small Ruminant Research (2.2% and 4.4% of papers related to sheep and goats, respectively), the journal with most published papers for 21 (sheep) and 29 (goats) years. Most papers originated from the United States of America, the country with most published papers for 52 (sheep) and 41 (goats) years. Most published papers related to sheep or goats were classified in the Dairy and animal sciences topics-meso. The two predominant topics-micro were Ruminant nutrition and Livestock reproduction for published papers related to sheep and papers related to goats. Overall, 31.7% and 34.9% of papers related to sheep and goats, respectively, were published under open access, with a progressive increase yearly. On average, papers related to sheep had received 0.93 citations annually and papers related to goats 0.73 citations annually.

This paper describes a detailed evaluation of published works, in which proteomics methodological approaches and technologies were used to advance knowledge about small ruminants. The specific objective of this assessment was the presentation of quantitative characteristics on the content and the bibliometric details of publications on the use of proteomics methodological approaches and technologies in small ruminant work. For the search of published papers, the following topical search string was used: [sheep OR ovine OR Ovis aries OR goat* OR caprine OR Capra hircus] AND [proteom*], in the Web of Science database. In total, 481 published papers (448 original articles and 33 reviews) were evaluated individually. These originated from 56 countries, mostly from China and the United States of America, and increased gradually with time. Most (85.7%) original articles presented experimental work with animals, most often in sheep/goat production (37.4%) and reproduction (21.8%), and less often in physiology (19.0%) or diseases (17.9%). Tissues analyzed more often were milk (17.9%), blood (10.3%), and muscle (9.2%). The proteomics methodological approach and technology employed most frequently was the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (52.9% of articles). The journal, in which papers were published most frequently, was the Journal of Proteomics (8.3%). There were 3689 authors in total in the published papers, with a median number of 7 per paper Median number of references was 50 per published paper. Median number of citations was eight per published paper, and median number of annual citations was 2.0 per published paper. Significant predictors for the number of annual citations were (a) for reviews, the number of references, and (b) for original articles, the number of references, the topic of study, and the animal species referred to in the articles. The Epimetre briefly reviews the contribution of proteomics in the health management of sheep and goats. Overall, the results have indicated that the use of proteomics methodological approaches and technologies in sheep and goat work has advanced our knowledge and understanding of the biology of these two animal species in a multitude of fields and topics internationally, with an increasing dissemination and applicability.

This study, carried out as part of a large countrywide investigation into the sheep and goat industries in Greece, focused on respiratory problems of lambs and kids in Greece. The work was performed as part of a wider study performed in farms throughout the country with the participation of farmers, by means of an in-person questionnaire investigation. The specific objectives of the study were (a) the assessment of the presence of respiratory problems in lambs and kids and (b) the identification of variables associated with the presence of these problems in the farms. Data were collected from 325 sheep flocks and 119 goat herds. The annual incidence rate for respiratory problems in lambs was 1.4% (95% confidence intervals: 1.3–1.4%) and that in kids was 1.1% (1.0–1.2%). The annual incidence rate was significantly lower in farms that applied a semi-extensive or extensive management system (1.2% in sheep and 1.0% in goat farms) than in farms that applied an intensive or semi-intensive or extensive (1.5% and 1.3%, respectively) management system. In multivariable analysis, the lack of a barn for lambs, the proximity (<10 km) of the farm to industrial sites, and the experience of farmers emerged as significant predictors in sheep farms, and the proximity to industrial sites and the administration of antibiotics to newborns routinely emerged as significant predictors in goat farms. Sheep (27.4%) and goat (22.7%) farmers considered ‘pneumonia’ as the second most important health problem of lambs and kids. Respiratory problems were more often declared an important problem by farmers in proximity to industrial sites: 21.6% versus 12.5%. Overall, the study contributes information regarding the presence of respiratory problems in lambs and kids in Greece. A notable finding has been the association of proximity to industrial sites with a higher incidence rate of respiratory problems of lambs and kids in the farms. This has similarities to the results of relevant studies on people and potentially reflects that air pollution in the farm environment might be a factor to take into account in health management. One may also postulate that, possibly, data from farms can be employed to indicate potential risk from air pollution for humans, although further and more detailed work will be necessary to draw relevant conclusions.

The present study investigates whether the major countries contributing to sheep and goat research internationally differ in patterns of scientific output, collaborations and thematic orientation, how international research partnerships and thematic profiles have changed over time, and which country-level characteristics may be associated with citation impact. The specific objectives of the present study were the characterization of the geographical organization of sheep and goat research and the identification of country-level patterns and associations underlying its international scientific output. The Web of Science was used, and 165,052 papers related to sheep and 67,637 papers related to goats, published until 2024, were obtained. Then, papers originating from countries with at least 1% of total published papers from each species were considered. Small Ruminant Research was the journal with the most published papers; ‘Veterinary Sciences’ was the dominant Web of Science journal category. ‘Ruminant nutrition’ and ‘Livestock reproduction’ were the most widely represented topics in published papers from most countries, although between-country differences and changes in topic specialization over time were also seen. Two variables were positively associated with the average number of citations per paper: average number of references cited per paper and number of countries with which collaborative papers were published, both for sheep- and goat-related papers. Specifically for goat-related papers, thematic concentration was also associated with the average number of citations per paper. Overall, the study has highlighted the dynamic spatial structure of scientific output from sheep and goat research and its evolution over time.