Antimicrobial research productivity in Lebanon: A PubMed-Based bibliometric analysis

Antimicrobials have revolutionized medicine globally, but emerging antimicrobial resistance due to antimicrobial misuse might revert the world to the "pre-antibiotic era". Research on the topic contributes to fighting antimicrobial resistance and developing related strategies. Hence, this bibliometric analysis aimed to assess antimicrobial research productivity in Lebanon.

Relevant publications were retrieved from PubMed, and data were assessed using the VOS viewer. The most research-active institutions, collaboration patterns, and various antimicrobial research areas were reported and discussed.

Research productivity has exhibited an increasing trend over the past 20 years. Private institutions were the most active (90%), while international collaborations were moderate (40%), mainly with institutions in the United States and France. The only visible public-private partnership involved collaboration between the Lebanese University and other institutions. While immunology and molecular biology-related keywords were frequently used before 2012, more clinical (treatment outcome, antimicrobial stewardship, antimicrobial resistance) and environmental cluster-related keywords appeared later, with a low occurrence of resistance and the One Health concept.

This study assessed research productivity related to antimicrobials from Lebanese institutions; it showed the need for greater public sector involvement, expanded national and international research collaborations, and increased focus on critical concepts such as antimicrobial resistance and the One Health approach. Future studies should evaluate research quality and expand the search to additional research platforms other than PubMed for a more comprehensive understanding of the Lebanese research productivity in this field and further optimize strategic measures to combat antimicrobial resistance, optimize research agenda, and improve patient health outcomes.