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Analysis of institutional authors

Iglesias–vázquez LAuthorArija VAuthorCanals JCorresponding Author

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April 10, 2020
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Composition of gut microbiota in children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Publicated to:Nutrients. 12 (3): 792- - 2020-03-01 12(3), DOI: 10.3390/nu12030792

Authors: Iglesias-Vazquez, Lucia; Van Ginkel Riba, Georgette; Arija, Victoria; Canals, Josefa

Affiliations

Univ Rovira & Virgili, Dept Prevent Med & Publ Hlth, Fac Med & Hlth Sci, Reus 43201, Spain - Author
Univ Rovira & Virgili, Fac Educ Sci & Psychol, Dept Psychol, Tarragona 43007, Spain - Author
Universitat Rovira i Virgili - Author

Abstract

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a public health problem and has a prevalence of 0.6%–1.7% in children. As well as psychiatric symptoms, dysbiosis and gastrointestinal comorbidities are also frequently reported. The gut–brain microbiota axis suggests that there is a form of communication between microbiota and the brain underlying some neurological disabilities. The aim of this study is to describe and compare the composition of gut microbiota in children with and without ASD. Methods: Electronic databases were searched as far as February 2020. Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan5.3 to estimate the overall relative abundance of gut bacteria belonging to 8 phyla and 17 genera in children with ASD and controls. Results: We included 18 studies assessing a total of 493 ASD children and 404 controls. The microbiota was mainly composed of the phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria, all of which were more abundant in the ASD children than in the controls. Children with ASD showed a significantly higher abundance of the genera Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Clostridium, Faecalibacterium, and Phascolarctobacterium and a lower percentage of Coprococcus and Bifidobacterium. Discussion: This meta-analysis suggests that there is a dysbiosis in ASD children which may influence the development and severity of ASD symptomatology. Further studies are required in order to obtain stronger evidence of the effectiveness of pre-or probiotics in reducing autistic behaviors.

Keywords

adolescentsasdautism spectrum disorderchildrendysbiosisgut microbiotaAcidsAdolescentsAsdAutism spectrum disorderBacteriaChildChildrenDysbiosisFemaleGastrointestinal microbiomeGastrointestinal microbiotaGut microbiotaHumansMaleMicrofloraPrevalenceStatementSystematic review and meta-analysis

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Nutrients 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, 2020, it was in position 17/88, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Nutrition & Dietetics.

This publication has been distinguished as a “Highly Cited Paper” by the agencies WoS (ESI, Clarivate) and ESI (Clarivate), meaning that it ranks within the top 1% of the most cited articles in its thematic field during the year of its publication. In terms of the observed impact of the contribution, this work is considered one of the most influential worldwide, as it is recognized as highly cited. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

And this is evidenced by the extremely high normalized impacts through some of the main indicators of this type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of calculation, already indicate that they are well above the average in different agencies:

  • Normalization of citations relative to the expected citation rate (ESI) by the Clarivate agency: 7.79 (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 9.69 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 61.37 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-26, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 182
  • Scopus: 218
  • Europe PMC: 65

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 2025-07-26:

  • 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: 414.
  • 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: 461 (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: 297.15.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 4 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 42 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 37 (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.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina6185842

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 (Iglesias Vazquez, Lucia) and Last Author (Canals Sans, Josefa).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Canals Sans, Josefa.