Publication Trends in the Official Journals of Pediatric Dentistry Societies from 2004 to 2023

This study explored the evolving trends in pediatric dentistry research, focusing on the changes in research trends in the <i>Journal of the Korean Academy of Pediatric Dentistry</i> (JKAPD) and comparing them with those in other international journals and previous studies. We selected the JKAPD (Korea), <i>Pediatric Dentistry</i> (PD, USA), <i>European Archives of Paediatric Dentistry</i> (EAPD, Europe), and <i>The Japanese Journal of Pediatric Dentistry</i> (JJPD, Japan) as subjects for this study, as each one is considered the core academic journals of the corresponding region. Data from the four journals were collected by reviewing articles published over 20 years from 2004 to 2023. Sixteen classification criteria were established, and 4,231 papers were assigned a classification number. This study included 1,205 studies from the JKAPD, 1,320 from the PD, 1,070 from the EAPD, and 636 from the JJPD. Publication trends were similar across the pediatric dental journals; however, the JJPD showed no correlation with other journals. Dental caries and prevention of dental caries were the most published topics in all journals (15.4%), followed by systemic diseases or patients with special health care needs (9.9%), conservative treatment and restorative materials (9.2%), and dental growth and developmental disturbances (8.8%). The thematic distribution of articles in the JKAPD observed in this study is consistent with that of previous studies. Although there were regional variations, the distribution of publication trends did not significantly change before or after the 21<sup>st</sup> century. This study offers valuable insights for comparing and analyzing trends in domestic and international research and providing an opportunity to examine which social and environmental changes have influenced these trends.