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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2011; 01(01): 4-7
DOI: 10.4103/2231-0770.83716
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Research productivity in Syria: Quantitative and qualitative analysis of current status

Maria M Diab
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
,
Rokana M. O Taftaf
Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
,
Mohammad Arabi
Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Abstract

Context: Scientific research output measured by the number and quality of publications reflects the research productivity of a certain community. Aims: To examine the quantity and quality of research produced by Syrian institutions with particular emphasis on the clinical and biomedical research. Settings and Design: Retrospective observational analysis of research originating from Syrian institutions indexed by Medline and Science Citation Index (SciVerse) Scopus bibliographic databases. Materials and Methods: Comprehensive review of the literature indexed by Medline and SciVerse was conducted including data from Jan 01, 1980 till February 2011 searching for authors affiliated with Syrian institutions. Clinical and biomedical research data were further analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results: The total of manuscripts indexed by SciVerse originating from Syrian institutions during the last 3 decades is 3540. A total of 458 publications cover clinical and biomedical subject areas. The quality of these 458 publications was evaluated by the citation frequency and impact factor of publishing journals with h-index of 24. Conclusions: Although the spectrum of research originating from Syrian institutions is broad, the overall number of publications particularly in clinical and biomedical subjects is minuscule and of limited quality. The presented data indicate the need to promote research capabilities and to bridge the gap in research productivity by Syrian institutions.

Keywords

Bibliographic databases - research - Syria


Publication History

Article published online:
09 August 2021

© 2011. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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