Scientific Performance in Endocrinology and Metabolism Over the Past 45 Years: A Scientometrics Study in the Middle-East Countries

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aimed to explore the scientific performance in research of endocrinology and metabolism and its correlation with the socioeconomic indicators in the Middle- East countries. Material and Methods: Scientometrics and social network analysis methods were used for this study. Data were extracted from the Web of Science, World Bank, and UIS data center of UNESCO. Results: The majority of scientific productions (79.6%) were published by authors affiliated with upper-middle and high income countries which includes Turkey, Israel, and Iran. From co-authorship analysis, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey with most degree centrality, had the highest collaborative ranking with other Middle-East countries. The main Middle-East collaborators having scientific outputs in this field were the researchers from the USA, England, and Germany. Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia had the most collaboration (63.8%) with other countries. Also, there was a strong positive correlation between total collaborations with global countries and the number of citations. Conclusion: Due to the correlation among scientific productions, citations, scientific collaborations, Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, and specialist human resources indicators, the supplementary budget should be directed toward research in the Middle-East countries and establishing global networks to conduct joint projects. This could increase the trend of scientific productions and obtain higher citations in the Web of Science, eventually leading to scientific, social as well as economic development in the region.