Scientific Performance in Endocrinology and Metabolism Over the Past 45 Years: A Scientometrics Study in the Middle-East Countries

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore the scientific performance in research of endocrinology and metabolism and its correlation with the socioeconomic indicators in the Middle-East countries. Material and Methods: Scientometrics and social network analysis methods were used for this study. Data were extracted from the Web of Science, World Bank, and UIS data center of UNESCO. Results: The majority of scientific productions (79.6%) were published by authors affiliated with upper-middle and high income countries which includes Turkey, Israel, and Iran. From co-authorship analysis, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey with most degree centrality, had the highest collaborative ranking with other Middle-East countries. The main Middle-East collaborators having scientific outputs in this field were the researchers from the USA, England, and Germany. Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia had the most collaboration (63.8%) with other countries. Also, there was a strong positive correlation between total collaborations with global countries and the number of citations. Conclusion: Due to the correlation among scientific productions, citations, scientific collaborations, Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, and specialist human resources indicators, the supplementary budget should be directed toward research in the Middle-East countries and establishing global networks to conduct joint projects. This could increase the trend of scientific productions and obtain higher citations in the Web of Science, eventually leading to scientific, social as well as economic development in the region.

What Insights Can We Gain from the Scientometric Analysis of Scientific Publications Related to Multiple Sclerosis?

“…The research on MS in the Middle East had an increasing trend in the studied years. This finding accords with those on endocrinology, diabetes, and hepatitis (7,18,36,37). A study related to research in the field of obesity in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region also mentioned an upward trend in scientific output (45).…”

“…The top highly productive countries were Turkey, Iran, and Egypt, respectively. In some other medical fields, including, among others, endocrinology, diabetes, obesity, hepatitis, and oral and maxillofacial surgery, Turkey, Iran, and Israel were highly productive (7,18,36,37,45,48). In terms of the number of scientific publications in the Khalifa et al's study (46), these four countries were also among the most prolific nations.…”

“…Research institutes from Saudi Arabia and Iran were highly productive in this regard. The presence of Iranian research institutes was considerable in some other medical fields, too (7,18,36).…”

“…Scientific collaboration is usually used by low-and middle-income countries as an effective way to access the knowledge and technologies of developed countries. Some issues, such as size, political and economic problems, mobility, and migration, affect scientific collaboration (7,8).…”