Development of an eastern mediterranean region search strategy for biomedical citations indexed in PubMed

PubMed, a 'barrier-free' bibliographic database covering biomedical and health disciplines, has been successfully used to identify a multitude of indicators that assist in analyzing global trends for biomedical research productivity. The current study represents an original attempt to develop and optimize an Eastern Mediterranean Region [EMR] search strategy in PubMed to pave the way for subsequent descriptive analyses. The refined EMR search strategy contains elaborate syntaxes which facilitate controlling the search process and maintaining a proper balance between sensitivity and precision of the obtained results. Country-specific citation data were manually scanned for false positive publications. Our results indicate that publication productivity increased nearly five-fold in the EMR from 2004 to 2013. Five countries [Islamic Republic of Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Pakistan; in order of total publications] contributed to 80% of all EMR publications during this period. Each of the remaining 17 EMR countries contributed less than 4%. We believe that the methodology presented in this study can be used in conjunction with other metrics to extract invaluable indicators to describe EMR health research systems

Bibliometric analyses of biomedical research outputs in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates [1988-2007]

We assessed the role of bibliometric methods in representing quantitative and qualitative differences in biomedical research outputs in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates UAE. Data on biomedical research productivity for years 1988-2007 were obtained from PubMed then imported into a specifically designed local database system and normalized to the population size for each country. Data reveal a continuous increase in research production in Lebanon, whereas a plateau phase is observed in the UAE between 1998 and 2007. In Lebanon, most of the citations originated from the capital city of Beirut, mainly the American University of Beirut. Detailed analysis of biomedical research objectives in Lebanon indicate a focus on internal medicine, anesthesiology, surgery, transplantation, medical genetics, pediatrics, obstetrics, neoplasms, and pain management. In the UAE, most of the biomedical publications originate from Al-Ain University. Detailed analysis of biomedical research objectives in the UAE indicate developed interest in pediatrics, obstetrics, clinical dysmorphologies, transplantation, dermatology, diabetes, and consanguinity. Biomedical research outputs quickly recovered in Lebanon following a long war 1974-1992 mainly supported by uninterrupted activities in private higher education institutes. In the UAE, the plateau phase for biomedical research output size could be due to the limitation of most of the research in the country to Al-Ain University. This situation may only improve when other institutes offering biomedical programs engage also in research activities

Biomedical science journals in the Arab world

Medieval Arab scientists established the basis of medical practice and gave important attention to the publication of scientific results. At present, modern scientific publishing in the Arab world is in its developmental stage. Arab biomedical journals are less than 300, most of which are published in Egypt, Lebanon, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Yet, many of these journals do not have on-line access or are indexed in major bibliographic databases. The majority of indexed journals, however, do not have a stable presence in the popular PubMed database and their indexes are discontinued since 2001. The exposure of Arab biomedical journals in international indices undoubtedly plays an important role in improving the scientific quality of these journals. The successful examples discussed in this review encourage us to call for the formation of a consortium of Arab biomedical journal publishers to assist in redressing the balance of the region from biomedical data consumption to data production

Deniz: the electronic database for B-thalassemia mutations in the Arab world

Data on the distribution of beta-thalassemia mutations in Arab populations are usually destined to disparate locations and much of these become increasingly difficult for an average researcher to locate. That is why we aimed at establishing an electronic database network, called Deniz, for beta-thalassemia allele frequency distributions in the Arab world at http:/biobase.fatih.edu.tr. The scheme of the database combines the benefits of the relational and hierarchical systems. Detailed statistics of the frequencies of beta-thalassemia mutations are retrieved in tabular forms. Multiple permanent connections allow flexible movement within the database. Queries are processed by the systems language and sent to the user's browser as hypertext markup language documents. The database catalogues the frequencies of beta-thalassemia mutations in 14 Arab countries as pooled from the analysis of 3,138 chromosomes by 36 laboratories. Of the 57 B-globin gene mutations reported in Arabs, IVS-I-110 [G-A], IVS-I-5 [G-C], IVS-I-6 [T-C], IVS-II-1 [G-A], and IVS-I-1 [G-A] are the most encountered and they account for approximately two thirds of the Arab chromosomes registered in Deniz. In addition to its importance as a hub of updated information on the distribution of beta-thalassemia mutations in Arabs, information in Deniz may be used to predict diagnostic strategies that may be offered to natives of unstudied countries. Incidence data may also give important clues on the possible origins of beta-thalassemia in the Arab world. The integration of Deniz with other databases is currently in process and researchers are invited to contribute to the growth of the database

Biomedical Research in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [1982-2000]

Because of the leading position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in biomedical research among the Arab States, we aimed this study at providing a detailed analysis of the development of this domain in the Kingdom. More than 1500 queries were mainly directed to the PubMed bibliographic database. Tags, boolean operators, and wild cards were utilized. Most of the Saudi biomedical citations originated from the capital city of Riyadh [70%], particularly from the King Saud University [29.5%] and King Faisal Specialist Hospital [21.5%]. One of every 5 Saudi papers either describes a disease, a blood related analysis, or surgical observations. Only 0.5% of Saudi papers appear in the 200 highest impact-factor journals. A steady advancement in biomedical research is observed in the Kingdom mainly in years 1987-1996. The absence of uniformity in writing the addresses of authors in published articles from Saudi Arabia results in misleading data about the geographical distribution of biomedical research and sometimes improper rating of the scientific institutions in the Kingdom. The most dynamic biomedical fields in the Kingdom observed in the present analysis are Hematology, Surgery, Cancer, Pharmacology, and Microbiology. The main reasons behind the small number of Saudi papers appearing in high impact-factor journals are the bias and the economics of scientific publishing. We hope that the present study will lay the foundation for more detailed investigations on the directions of biomedical research in the Kingdom and will be of great importance to better found future strategies in this important realm

Genetic disorders in Arabs as for OMIM

Arabs populations are genetically a heterogeneous group that resulted from the admixture between different populations throughout history. A search for genetic disorders described in Arab populations in the online version of M[c]K[u]sick's "Mendelian Inheritance in Man: Catalogue of Human and Genetic Disorders" [OMIMTM] resulted in 374 entries. The data presented in this review emphasizes the role of non-Arab researchers in diagnosing genetic disease in Arab populations. This observation could be due to the fact reports presented by Arab researches are usually published in journals not recognized by OMIMTM. Thus, the number of genetic disorders in Arabs is expected to be more than 374. Reviews that covered the subject went rapidly out of date as new disorders were continuously described in Arabs. Establishing a regularly updated repository for genetic disorders diagnosed in Arabs is a necessity to unify, as much as possible, what has been carried out on the subject