Basic and clinical research publications of Indonesian neurosurgeons: Where are we?

With changes in European and the US academia and education systems, research has become a measurement to define academic productivity, as it is a crucial component in the process of becoming a well-trained neurosurgeon. In this recent study, we aimed to reveal the current status and challenges facing neurosurgical research in Indonesia.

An open-access PubMed MEDLINE database search was performed to reveal all articles published by Indonesian Neurosurgeons from 1980 to July 2021. The detail was extracted to the following parameters: academia center or city of the study, year of publication, study type, topic, journal, institution and Q status, first author, article citation, international collaboration, and the working field. These data were processed and examined.

During 1980 and July 2021, a total of 242 PubMed-indexed papers were published from Indonesia. The number of publications started increasing significantly from 2010 to 2021, with an average of 19 papers per year since 2010. Most of the studies came from Bandung (22.7%), with Universitas Padjadjaran as the center of the study. According to the paper type, the majority of the articles were basic and clinical research (45.5%). The most common study type was case reports (33.5%). Neurotrauma (21.9%) was the most frequent topic followed by neuro-oncology (21.07%) and spine trauma (11.98%).

Published articles in the neurosurgery field in Indonesia has shown a higher, promising trend. Despite many challenges faced in the process, there was significant progress in the past few decades compared to the previous ones. A comprehensive deliberate plan and multidisciplinary effort that focuses on overcoming the problems regarding defining academic productivity is needed for further improvement of neurosurgical care in Indonesia.