Scientific impact of movement disorders research from Southeast Asia: A bibliometric analysis

The number of scientific publications on movement disorders from Southeast Asia (SEA) is thought to be low. Thus, we looked at the movement disorders research productivity among SEA countries and its associations with country-specific socioeconomic factors.

We performed a systematic search for publications indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from January 2000 to December 2019 with at least one author from SEA. Bibliometric indices were used to evaluate research impact. The country-specific socioeconomic characteristics were also obtained.

Of the 9488 identified articles, 1567 met the eligibility criteria. There was an increasing trend in the total number of publications on movement disorders during the last two decades. Singapore had the highest contribution in all aspects, which highlights the impact of knowledge-based economy type in research productivity. Parkinsonism remained the most studied condition, followed by dystonia, chorea, and tremor. Among the socioeconomic factors, only % gross domestic product (GDP) for research and development showed a positive correlation on the number of publications of a country. On the other hand, GDP per capita, population size and the number of neurologist size did not affect research productivity.

An increasing trend in the movement disorders research output over the last 20 years was seen. Singapore had the highest contribution in all aspects which highlights the impact of economy in research productivity. Among the socioeconomic factors, only % GDP for R&D showed a positive impact on the number of publications of a country.