Neurosurgical research in Southeast Asia: A bibliometric analysis

Objectives: Bibliometric analysis can provide insight into the growth, development and dissemination of research in neurosurgery. Little work has been done to examine the role of country-specific characteristics affecting research productivity. We aimed to characterize and compare the research productivity among SEA countries in terms of bibliometric indices and determine associations with country-specific factors.Methods: We performed a systematic search of all articles by authors affiliated with a neurosurgical department in any of the Southeast Asian countries, indexed in 3 databases from inception to June 10, 2020. Bibliometric indices - number of publications, number of citations, average citations per publication, h-index, and the i-10-index - were computed for each country. Correlations between the indices and country-specific characteristics (population size, GDP per capita, percentage of GDP allocation to research and development (R&D), number of neurosurgeons, number of neurosurgeons per capita, and number of collaborations with non-SEA authors) were determined.Results: The number of publications showed an increasing trend up to 2019. Most studies were cohort studies (37%) or case reports or series (37%). Of the country-specific factors analyzed, only percentage of the GDP allocated to R&D was positively correlated with number of publications (p = 0.0004), total citations (p < 0.0001), H-index (p < 0.0001), and i(10)-index (p < 0.0001). Number of collaborations also positively correlated with the same indices. Conclusion: Our bibliometric analysis showed increasing contribution by neurosurgeons in the SEA region. Correlational analysis support the view that increased R&D budget allocation and international collaboration can improve neurosurgical research capacity and productivity.