A 20-year perspective on leading authors to the Italian Journal of Dermatology and Venereology

BACKGROUND: Established in 1866, the Italian Journal of Dermatology and Venereology (IJDV) is a peer-reviewed publication with a longstanding tradition of disseminating dermatological and venereological research. Despite its historical importance, a comprehensive scientometric analysis of its recent publications is lacking. METHODS: This study is designed as a systematic literature review employing a descriptive and quantitative scientometric approach to analyze all contributions published in the IJDV from 2005 to 2024. Metadata were extracted from the journal's official online archives and included information on article titles, authorship, and publication dates. Co-authorship networks were constructed using graph-theoretical principles, where nodes represented individual authors and edges indicated shared authorship of one or more articles. To identify prolific contributors and assess author influence, the study applied network centrality metrics, including degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and PageRank. RESULTS: A total of 2388 articles published between 2005 and 2024 was analyzed, involving contributions from 5389 authors. The analysis revealed the top 50 most prolific authors over the last two decades. Co-authorship networks highlighted distinct collaborative clusters, with specific individuals emerging as central figures based on degree, betweenness centrality, PageRank metrics. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers novel insights into the authorship dynamics of IJDV, providing a systematic overview of its scholarly landscape and the collaborative networks that have shaped its scientific output over the past 20 years.