Bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed literature on Syrian refugees and displaced people (2011–2017)

Abstract

BackgroundThe Syrian conflict has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time with approximately half of Syria’s pre-war population killed or forced to flee their homes. The current study aimed to analyze peer-reviewed literature published on Syrian refugees and displaced people.MethodsA bibliometric methodology was implemented using Scopus database after retrieving documents relevant to Syrian refugees and displaced people.FindingsIn total, 323 documents were retrieved. Research articles constituted 71.2% (n = 230) of the retrieved documents. The bulk (61.6%; n = 199) of the retrieved documents were in health-related fields. Research domains of the retrieved health-related documents were mainly in the field of mental and psychosocial (17.3%; n = 56), infectious diseases (15.2%; n = 49), health policy and systems (16.4%; n = 53), maternal and reproductive health (15.2%; n = 49), and non-communicable diseases (NCD) (7.4%; n = 24). Authors from research institutions in the United States produced the highest number of publications (24.5%; n = 79), followed by Turkey (21.4%; n = 69) and Lebanon (10.2%; n = 33). The American University of Beirut was the most active (5.6%; n = 18) research institution. Aside from Lebanon and Jordan, there was very little contribution from other Arab states. Conflict and Health was the most active journal (5.3%; n = 17) in publishing on Syrian refugees and displaced people.ConclusionThe study highlighted some particular research gaps – most notably the limited research on NCDs. There was also modest international research collaboration and engagement from Arab countries aside from Lebanon and Jordan.

Responding to health needs of women, children and adolescents within Syria during conflict: intervention coverage, challenges and adaptations

“…"I believe, [in other settings] we've been having emergencies since existence began, so the NGO capacity has been on-going for the last [25][26][27][28][29][30] The full package is to provide both, but we can depend on other partners." (R09).…”

“…measles immunization coverage among children 12-23 months decreased from 81.9% pre-conflict to 75% in 2013) [24]. The review also highlighted limitations in the data available on the health of populations remaining in Syria, as the majority of evidence focuses on Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries [24,29,30].…”

Bibliometric analysis of the papers on urban education

“…Four of these ten most cited publications are about science education in urban areas: one from the Journal of Research in Science Teaching , two from the Science Education and one from the Journal of the Learning Sciences . Overall, there are two articles from the Urban Education , one from the journals of Educational Administration Quarterly , Educational Psychologist , Journal of School Health and Child Development (Sweileh, 2018). The most cited article is “Inquiry-based science instruction – what is it and does it matter?…”

Crime and Violence Studies in the Immigration Field: Interactions between Disciplines and Emerging Concepts

“…It enables a balanced assessment of the academic fields, which particularly avoids local biases (Van Raan, 2005). Bibliometric analysis has also been used in immigration studies in recent years, such as studying drivers of environmental migrations (Priovashini & Mallick, 2021), international scientific migrations (Moed & Halevi, 2014), health research in global migration (Sweileh et al, 2018), international cooperation on migration (Khaldi & Prado-Gascó, 2021), mapping migration studies (Pisarevskaya et al, 2020), organ trafficking and migration (Gonzalez et al, 2020), human trafficking (Sweileh, 2018b), internal migration in Mexico (Miranda-González et al, 2020) and Syrian refugees (Sweileh, 2018a).…”