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Analysis of institutional authors

Viar-Hernández, DAuthorRodriguez-Vila, BAuthorMalpica, NAuthorTorrado-Carvajal, ACorresponding Author

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A case study of medical image software evolution and its impact in the medical imaging community

Publicated to:Heliyon. 10 (5): e26408- - 2024-03-15 10(5), DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26408

Authors: Viar-Hernandez, David; Rodriguez-Vila, Borja; Gil-Correa, Mario; Malpica, Norberto; Torrado-Carvajal, Angel

Affiliations

Univ Rey Juan Carlos, Med Image Anal & Biometry Lab, Tulipan S-N - Author

Abstract

Objective: We present the evolution of medical imaging software and its impact on the medical imaging community through the study of four open-source image analysis software platforms: 3D Slicer, FreeSurfer, FSL, and SPM. Materials and methods: We have studied the impact of these software tools over time, measured by the number of scientific citations. Additionally, we have also studied the source code evolution by measuring the lines of code and the tarball size of the stable releases and the changes in programming languages. Results and discussion: The rising number of related scientific publications confirms the popularity of these software tools in the research community, albeit some differences can be observed in the popularity of the tools. Moreover, we demonstrate that source code has evolved to modernize and optimize, at least partially thanks to the collaboration and code sharing with the user community. Furthermore, this evolution reveals an increased use of higher-level programming languages and meta-languages. Conclusions: The study of four open-source packages has revealed certain patterns in the evolution of medical imaging software and their impact on the medical image community. Further analyses and complementary metrics are suggested.

Keywords

Medical imaging computingOpen -source softwareOpen-source softwareScienceSoftware evolution

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Heliyon due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position 28/134, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Multidisciplinary Sciences.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-07-01:

  • WoS: 1
  • Scopus: 1

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-01:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 5.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 5 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.85.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Viar Hernández, David) and Last Author (Torrado Carvajal, Ángel).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Torrado Carvajal, Ángel.