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The spread of COVID-19 has created a fundamental need for coordinated mechanisms responding to outbreaks in different sectors. One of the main sectors relates to information supply and demand in the middle of this pandemic in the digital environment. It could be called an infodemiology. It is known as a promising approach to solving the challenge in the present age. At this level, the purpose of this article is to investigate the COVID-19 related search process by field research. Data were retrieved from Google Trends in Middle Eastern countries alongside scientific research output of Middle Eastern scientists towards COVID-19 in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Daily COVID-19 cases and deaths were retrieved from the World Health Organization. We searched for descriptive statistical analyses to detect coronavirus-seeking behavior versus coronavirus releases in the Middle East in 2020. Findings show that people in the Middle East use various keyword solutions to search for COVID-19 in Google. There is a significant correlation between coronavirus confirmed cases and scientific productivity (January 2020-December 2020). Also, there is a positive association between the number of deaths and the number of scientific publications (except Jordan). It was a positive and significant association between online coronavirus-seeking behavior on Google (RSVs) and the confirmed cases (except Syria and Yemen). Furthermore, it was a positive relationship between RSVs and scientific productivity in the Middle East (except Bahrain and Qatar). From an infodemiological viewpoint, there is a significant correlation between coronavirus information demand and its information provision.

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Objective: Assessing the current scientific situation helps to recognize the gaps and strengths of brachytherapy research projects. This research project was conducted to assess the knowledge domain and emerging trends in brachytherapy through a scientometric perspective. Methods:For the present research, the Web of Science database was considered as the data source. Integrated data was transferred to Bibliometrix R Package V3.1. In this study, the scientometric approach was performed by CiteSpace 5.8.R3 to draw the trends and signify issues in the research area. Eventually, scientometric indicators were evaluated at the level of authors, documents, journals, organizations, and countries.Results: A total of 31,362 documents from 64,740 Independent researchers were retrieved. The United States, Germany, and Canada were the most active countries in brachytherapy-related research projects. In the present study, Luc Beaulieu, Christine Kirisits, and Ronald Nath were identified as the most influential authors. Eventually, keywords clusters were constructed by using the method of co-citation analysis. In this case, the main clusters were cervical cancer and prostate cancer. Conclusion:Assessing the scientific trends in brachytherapy indicated that new insights have been gained into this cancer treatment technique. In this case, development of computer applications and artificial intelligence alongside deep learning utilization provides new horizons for oncology and radiotherapy researchers.

Purpose Journals are the essential tools of researchers, especially academicians, to present their scientific findings. So, choosing the right journal helps not only science development but also their academic promotion. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that Iranian medical researchers consider when selecting scholarly journals in which to submit their work. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered online questionnaire was emailed in May 2021, with 101 responses received. The sample included all the faculty members with the role of “lecturer” in Iranian medical universities and who have 1–5 articles in the Scopus database as early-career Iranian medical researchers. The questionnaire consisted of 36 items, divided into five sections: basic information, attitudes and beliefs, ways to choose a journal, problems and familiarity with the components of scientometrics/validity metrics related to journals. Findings The findings indicate that these researchers value the expertise of experienced researchers and professionals, like librarians, when selecting publication venues. They often use journal indexes to guide journal selection. They also consider factors like the length of typical peer review and the complexity of submission guidelines when making decisions. Research limitations/implications The study of one country, though detecting requirements of journal selection behavior, cannot be generalized to the entire region. Practical implications The current study has academic implications as far as decisions on journal selection are concerned. University policymakers in Iran may consider re-examining their emphasis on academicians’ promotion policies at Iranian universities of medical sciences. Originality/value These findings may support the work of early-career researchers and those individuals (e.g., librarians) that serve them, as well as publishers and editors of scholarly journals.