Saad Randa K, Abu Khudair Sara, El Rabbat Maha, Omar Mayeh, Al Nsour Mohannad, Khader Yousef, Rawaf Salman
Global Health Development| Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network, Amman, Jordan.
Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Interact J Med Res. 2022 Jul 19;11(2):e38935. doi: 10.2196/38935.
The challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to unprecedented global research activity. The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) continues to contribute to COVID-19 research driven by the unique challenges of the region, including the protracted conflicts, already stressed health systems, and serious health and social inequalities.
This study aims to provide an overview of the publication activities and trends in COVID-19 research in the EMR from the onset of the disease to early 2022 using bibliometric methods.
A literature search using Scopus was conducted from December 1, 2019, to January 31, 2022, using keywords relevant to COVID-19 and the World Health Organization (WHO) EMR country list. Data were exported and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and the Citation Overview function on Scopus. The quality of journals was determined using SCImago Journal Rank and CiteScore. VOSviewer software was used to visualize the relationships between authors, countries, and key terms used in the retrieved documents.
A total of 6880 documents were retrieved, of which 1805 (26.24%) were from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and 1782 (25.90%) from Iran, followed by Pakistan, Egypt, and Jordan. Most published documents were affiliated with EMR universities, primarily the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran and King Saud University in KSA (396/6880, 5.76%, and 370/6880, 5.4%, respectively), while only 407 (5.92%) of 6880 documents were associated with universities outside the EMR. For most of the identified publications (5020/6880, 72.97%), no funding source was reported, while King Saud University contributed the largest share (282/1860, 15.16%) of funded publications. Retrieved documents were cited 53,516 times, with an average of 7.78 (SD 34.30). Iran was the EMR country with the most links to other countries (77 links and total link strength of 1279). The 5 authors with the most publications were from KSA, Qatar, and Jordan. There were 290 high-frequency keywords that occurred ≥10 times and were linked in 7 different clusters. The cluster with the most linked keywords was related to epidemiology and mortality. Recent topics included vaccines, vaccination, machine learning, and online learning.
This is the first study to show trends in and project future developments of COVID-19 research activity in the EMR. Authors and institutions who led research on COVID-19 in the region were from Iran and KSA. There were multiple regional collaborative efforts; however, international collaboration was limited. Recently, interest has been shifting toward topics related to vaccination, machine learning, and online learning. Understanding the current state of research is instrumental to future research production, and our study will inform regional research initiatives on emerging concepts, as well as opportunities for collaboration and funding.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行带来的挑战引发了前所未有的全球研究活动。东地中海区域（EMR）继续为COVID-19研究做出贡献，这是由该地区独特的挑战所驱动的，包括长期冲突、本就不堪重负的卫生系统以及严重的健康和社会不平等。
本研究旨在使用文献计量学方法概述从COVID-19疫情爆发至2022年初EMR地区COVID-19研究的发表活动及趋势。
于2019年12月1日至2022年1月31日期间，使用与COVID-19相关的关键词以及世界卫生组织（WHO）东地中海区域国家列表，在Scopus数据库中进行文献检索。使用Microsoft Excel和Scopus上的“引文概述”功能导出并分析数据。使用Scimago期刊排名和CiteScore来确定期刊质量。使用VOSviewer软件来可视化检索到的文献中作者、国家和关键词之间的关系。
共检索到6880篇文献，其中1805篇（26.24%）来自沙特阿拉伯王国（KSA），1782篇（25.90%）来自伊朗，其次是巴基斯坦、埃及和约旦。大多数已发表文献隶属于EMR地区的大学，主要是伊朗的德黑兰医科大学和KSA的沙特国王大学（分别为396/6880，5.76%和370/6880，5.4%），而6880篇文献中只有407篇（5.92%）与EMR地区以外的大学相关。在大多数已识别的出版物（5020/6880，72.97%）中，未报告资金来源，而沙特国王大学在有资金支持的出版物中占比最大（282/1860，15.16%）。检索到的文献被引用53516次，平均每篇被引用7.78次（标准差34.30）。伊朗是EMR地区与其他国家联系最多的国家（77个链接，总链接强度为1279）。发表文献最多的5位作者来自KSA、卡塔尔和约旦。有290个高频关键词出现次数≥10次，并被链接到7个不同的聚类中。链接关键词最多的聚类与流行病学和死亡率相关。近期的主题包括疫苗、接种、机器学习和在线学习。
这是第一项展示EMR地区COVID-19研究活动趋势并预测其未来发展的研究。该地区领导COVID-19研究的作者和机构来自伊朗和KSA。有多项区域合作努力；然而，国际合作有限。最近，研究兴趣已转向与疫苗接种、机器学习和在线学习相关的主题。了解当前的研究状况有助于未来的研究产出，我们的研究将为区域研究倡议提供有关新兴概念以及合作和资金机会的信息。
