Guidance List for repOrting Bibliometric AnaLyses (GLOBAL): Explanation and Elaboration

Background : Bibliometric analysis is a valuable approach for studying and evaluating scholarly communication, research output and impact, collaboration patterns, and knowledge flows by examining various aspects of scholarly works across different levels of actors and aggregations. Despite the strong growth in publications using bibliometrics, there is limited guidance on how to report bibliometric analyses. The lack of standardized reporting practices has led to the creation of the Guidance List for the repOrting of Bibliometric AnaLyses (GLOBAL) . This evidence-based guideline, developed via the EQUATOR Network’s framework, aims to provide a systematic approach to reporting bibliometric analyses in scholarly literature with the ultimate goal of improving reporting quality. This Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document is a supplementary document intended to facilitate the use of the GLOBAL. Methods : This E&E document was modeled after similar documents prepared for other reporting guidelines, such as Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT). It includes feedback from Delphi participants and steering committee members, as well as references from peer-reviewed research papers. The GLOBAL steering committee, which supervised and provided input to the GLOBAL’s development, consisted of six international researchers, four with expertise in bibliometrics (LW, MSabé, MSolmi, and SH) and two with expertise in reporting guidelines (DM and JYN). This document underwent pilot-testing and iterative processes of editing to enhance its clarity and applicability. Results: This document includes detailed explanations and examples that satisfy the checklist items. Each item has an expanded explanation where the necessary components and rationale of the checklist items are presented, alongside practical examples. These examples are extracted from published bibliometric literature and provide authors with a framework on how to approach the reporting of their analyses when following the GLOBAL. Conclusion: The GLOBAL is designed to guide the reporting of bibliometric analyses with a particular focus on manuscript-style publications (including journal and conference papers), encouraging more transparent reporting of studies using bibliometric methods. The supplementary document aims to assist in the adoption of the GLOBAL by providing explanations and examples on its implementation.