Diabetes Research in Iran: a Scientometric Analysis of Publications Output

Abstract

Introduction:In the developing countries, diabetes mellitus as a chronic diseases, have replaced infectious diseases as the main causes of morbidity and mortality. International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recently estimates 382 million people have diabetes globally and more than 34.6 million people in the Middle East Region and this number will increase to 67.9 million by 2035. The aim of this study was to analyze Iran’s research performance on diabetes in national and international context.Methods:This Scientometric analysis is based on the Iranian publication data in diabetes research retrieved from the Scopus citation database till the end of 2014. The string used to retrieve the data was developed using “diabetes” keyword in title, abstract and keywords, and finally Iran in the affiliation field was our main string.Results:Iran’s cumulative publication output in diabetes research consisted of 4425 papers from 1968 to 2014, with an average number of 96.2 papers per year and an annual average growth rate of 25.5%. Iran ranked 25th place with 4425 papers among top 25 countries with a global share of 0.72 %. Average of Iran’s publication output was 6.19 citations per paper. The average citation per paper for Iranian publications in diabetes research increased from 1.63 during 1968-1999 to 10.42 for 2014.Conclusions:Although diabetic population of Iran is increasing, number of diabetes research is not remarkable. International Diabetes Federation suggested increased funding for research in diabetes in Iran for cost-effective diabetes prevention and treatment. In addition to universal and comprehensive services for diabetes care and treatment provided by Iranian health care system, Iranian policy makers should invest more on diabetes research.

Global Mapping of Interventions to Improve Quality of Life of People with Diabetes in 1990–2018

“…This disparity was in line with a previous bibliometric study about diabetes, depression, and suicide, though these same countries had the highest volume of publications on this topic [23]. Other scientometric studies also underlined the insufficient contribution of LMICs to research, which does not help diminish the diabetes burden in these nations [19,20,47,48]. The concept of QOL refers to the individual's perception of physical, psychological, and social conditions in a specific context and culture [11].…”

“…However, few publications feature updated quantitative data (i.e, bibliometric or scientometric analysis) focusing on interventions aimed at improving QOL in people living with diabetes. Recently, most of the published bibliometric studies have concentrated on diabetes in general [19][20][21], diabetic complications [22] or comorbidities [23], and the use of specific therapy in diabetes treatment [24]. Looking at these offers a comprehensive picture of the current approaches utilized for improving QOL, the status of international collaboration, and the gap between high-and low-income nations, which is vital in developing a roadmap for a global research agenda that will help optimize diabetes treatment outcomes.…”

Bibliometric analysis of global publications in medication adherence (1900–2017)

“…[5][6][7] It is becoming an important, accessible and widely accepted method to assess the national and international research productivity, international collaboration, citation analysis, research trends and scientific development in a particular field. [8][9][10] Bibliometric analysis has been applied to malaria research, [11] antibiotic resistance, [12] cancer, [9] diabetes, [13] nutrition [11,14] and many other diseases. [15,16] However, to the authors' best knowledge, no bibliometric indicators of medication adherence as a medical concept had been studied.…”

European diabetes research and its funding, 2002–2013

“…The aim was to map research activity and assist research funding organizations such as the Commission to identify gaps and overlaps in the current state of diabetes research, and point out areas on which to focus future strategies. Previous studies that have applied a bibliometric approach to the outputs of diabetes research have mainly focused on a specific type of diabetes [4] or on another geographical area [5][6][7]. The DIAMAP website gives details of funders and researchers in Europe, but does not list individual papers [8].…”