A Bibliometric Analysis of Neurosurgery Research Productivity in Arab Countries Between 2005 and 2019

• Published in: World neurosurgery 2021-10, Vol.154, p.e313-e319
• Main Authors: Chanbour, Hani, El Masri, Jad, Bsat, Shadi, Bsat, Ayman, Jiblawi, Ahmad, Sunna, Tarek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arab countries; Arab World; Bibliometric analysis; Bibliometrics; Efficiency; Gross Domestic Product; Neurosurgery; Neurosurgery - statistics & numerical data; Periodicals as Topic; Publishing - statistics & numerical data; Research - economics; Research - statistics & numerical data; Research productivity
• ISSN: 1878-8750; 1878-8769
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2021.07.026

The Arab world is lagging behind in the world of publications and research, especially in the biomedical-related field. This is a bibliometric analysis that aims to assess the neurosurgical research productivity across different Arab countries. PubMed was used to quantify the number of neurosurgery-related articles published by each Arab country, by several journals, investigating specific topics between 2005 and 2019. Numbers were normalized with respect to each country's average population and average gross domestic product (GDP). Arab countries contributed 0.53% of total neurosurgery publications. Egypt had the highest number of neurosurgery-related publications (362), ahead of Saudi Arabia (238) and Lebanon (133). In terms of publications per million persons, Lebanon was first with 21.6 publications per million persons. In terms of GDP, Egypt ranked first with 18.85 publications per million $. There was an insignificant correlation between the number of publications on one hand and the average GDP (P = 0.09) on the other hand, whereas the average population explains around 50% of the neurosurgery-related publications (R squared = 0.49, P < 0.01). Neoplasms were the dominating area of research, and the WORLD NEUROSURGERY journal had the highest number of publications. The results reached by this study reflect an undoubtable need for more research on neurosurgery by Arab countries. This goes back to the different obstacles facing Arab countries every day, affecting the economic, educational, and health care systems.