Mapping diabetes research in Middle Eastern countries during 2007-2013: A scientometric analysis

Abstract

Background: Scientometric studies are highly important, as they provide information about scientific products worldwide and empower scientists to compare research activities in different regions. The present study was conducted to map scientific research in diabetes mellitus using scientometric analysis in Middle Eastern countries during 2003- 2007. Methods: This was an analytical study with a scientometric approach. The study population was formed by the indexed scientific results of diabetes mellitus in the Web of Science database during 2007-2013. Data were analyzed using Excel, and HistCite to map the scientific texts. Results: A total of 6532 records were retrieved from 3926 institutions. These records belonged to 19 323 authors and were published in 1420 journals. The Journal of Diabetes Care, with 3928 citations, had the most global citation score (GCS). The Journal of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, with 185 citations, achieved the first degree of local citation score (LCS). Most of the scientific documents produced in the Middle East belonged to Turkey (31.91%) and Iran (21.7%). Seven scientific clusters based on LCS, and 5 based on GCS existed in the scientific mapping. Topical clusters based on global and local indices showed that the prevalence of diabetes, hyperglycemia, and pregnancy outcomes, diabetic risk factors, diabetic complications and their new treatments, and glucose monitoring in Type 1 diabetes were the fields being addressed in the main articles of the clusters. Conclusion: Scientific production and local and global citations in diabetes research in Iran (21.7% of diabetes research in the Middle East) have elevated the country to a prominent position. Top ranking countries in diabetic research were Turkey, Iran, and Israel, respectively. Moreover, this paper quantified the studies that were done on different aspects of diabetes. The results of this study can be used by health care providers to employ the best multidisciplinary approach for managing diabetes and its complications. Also, the results can help the policy-makers and governments to determine the priorities for budget allocation based on the burden of diseases. Establishing a regional diabetes network in the Middle East can be beneficial and lead to scientific collaboration and an increase in scientific production in this field.

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.…”

Exploring emerging IoT technologies in smart health research: a knowledge graph analysis

“…Table 1 specifies the authors of the top 10 articles and their related information. In the HistCite software system, the citation frequency is divided into LCS and LGS, where LCS (local citation score) refers to the citation frequency of the document in the database of the field, and GCS (global citation score) refers to the frequency of citation in the Web of Science database [27]. It can be seen from Table 1 that Bonato and Rahmani have the largest number of publications, and the total quotation has reached 2024 and 908 respectively.…”

Visual Analysis on Information Theory and Science of Complexity Approaches in Healthcare Research

“…In the HistCite software system, the citation frequency is divided into LCS and GCS, where LCS (local citation score) refers to the citation frequency of a reference in the current database and GCS (global citation score) to the citation frequency of a document in a scientific database [ 25 ]. A list of the information of the top 10 countries is in Table 1 , including LCS (Local Citation Score) and GCS (Global Citation Score).…”