Contribution from the SAARC Region to Ophthalmic Research: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Bibliometrics
• Scientific Publishing

Background:

• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region represents a significant portion of the global population.
• Understanding the region's contribution to high-impact ophthalmic research is crucial for identifying research gaps and potential collaborations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the bibliometric contributions of the SAARC region to the top 20 ophthalmology journals.
• To analyze authorship, research centers, and key research topics from SAARC in global ophthalmology literature.

Main Methods:

• A bibliometric analysis was conducted on original research articles published in the top 20 ophthalmology journals (Scimago Journal Rankings 2021-2022).
• Data on authorship, corresponding authorship, research institutions, and main research topics were extracted for articles involving the SAARC region.
• Descriptive analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel.

Main Results:

• Only 4.2% of the 4952 reviewed articles had authorship from the SAARC region.
• India was the predominant contributor, accounting for 94.8% of SAARC authors and 93.26% of SAARC research centers.
• Medical retina was the most frequent research topic (31.22%) among SAARC contributions.

Conclusions:

• The SAARC region's research output in leading ophthalmology journals is nominal relative to its global population share.
• Further efforts are needed to enhance the visibility and impact of ophthalmic research from the SAARC region in international scientific discourse.