Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Global Surgery: A 30-Year Bibliometric Analysis (1987–2017)

  • Original Scientific Report
  • Published:
World Journal of Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

There has been a growing interest in addressing the surgical disease burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Assessing the current state of global surgery research activity is an important step in identifying gaps in knowledge and directing research efforts towards important unaddressed issues. The aim of this bibliometric analysis was to identify trends in the publication of global surgical research over the last 30 years.

Methods

Scopus® was searched for global surgical publications (1987–2017). Results were hand-screened, and data were collected for included articles. Bibliometric data were extracted from Scopus® and Journal Citation Reports. Country-level economic and population data were obtained from the World Bank. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise data and identify significant trends.

Results

A total of 1623 articles were identified. The volume of scientific production on global surgery increased from 14 publications in 1987 to 149 in 2017. Similarly, the number of articles published open access increased from four in 1987 to 68 in 2017. Observational studies accounted for 88.7% of the included studies. The three most common specialties were obstetrics and gynaecology 260 (16.0%), general surgery 256 (15.8%), and paediatric surgery 196 (12.1%). Over two times as many authors were affiliated to an LMIC institution than to a high-income country (HIC) institution (6628, 71.5% vs 2481, 28.5%, P < 0.001). A total of 965 studies (59.5%) were conducted entirely by LMIC authors, and 534 (32.9%) by collaborations between HICs and LMICs.

Conclusion

The quantity of research in global surgery has substantially increased over the past 30 years. Authors from LMICs seemed the most proactive in addressing the global surgical disease burden. Increasing the funding for interventional studies, and therefore the quality of evidence in surgery, has the potential for greater impact for patients in LMICs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Meara JG, Leather AJ, Hagander L et al (2015) Global surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development. Lancet 386:569–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Alkire BC, Raykar NP, Shrime MG et al (2015) Global access to surgical care: a modelling study. Lancet Glob Health 3:e316–e323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Murray CJ, Vos T, Lozano R et al (2012) Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380:2197–2223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Krishnaswami S, Stephens CQ, Yang GP et al (2018) An academic career in global surgery: a position paper from the Society of University Surgeons Committee on Academic Global Surgery. Surgery 163:954–960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Stawicki SP, Nwomeh BC, Peck GL et al (2019) Training and accrediting international surgeons. Br J Surg 106:e27–e33

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Br J Surg. Special Issue: Global Surgery. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1002/(ISSN)1365-2168.GlobalSurgery2018

  7. Knudson MM, Tarpley MJ, Numann PJ (2015) Global surgery opportunities for US surgical residents: an interim report. J Surg Educ 72:e60–e65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. DeShazo JP, Lavallie DL, Wolf FM (2009) Publication trends in the medical informatics literature: 20 years of "Medical Informatics" in MeSH. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 9:7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nafade V, Nash M, Huddart S et al (2018) A bibliometric analysis of tuberculosis research, 2007–2016. PLoS ONE 13:e0199706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bloomfield GS, Baldridge A, Agarwal A et al (2015) Disparities in cardiovascular research output and citations from 52 African countries: a time-trend, bibliometric analysis (1999–2008). J Am Heart Assoc 4:e001606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Glynn RW, Scutaru C, Kerin MJ et al (2010) Breast cancer research output, 1945–2008: a bibliometric and density-equalizing analysis. Breast Cancer Res 12:R108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Choudhri A, Siddiqui A, Khan N et al (2015) Understanding bibliometric parameters and analysis. Radiographics 35:736–746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Falagas ME, Pitsouni EI, Malietzis GA et al (2008) Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: strengths and weaknesses. FASEB J 22:338–342

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. The World Bank. Countries and economies. https://data.worldbank.org/country. Accessed Nov 2018

  15. King DA (2004) The scientific impact of nations. Nature 430:311–316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Bagley SC, White H, Golomb BA (2001) Logistic regression in the medical literature: standards for use and reporting, with particular attention to one medical domain. J Clin Epidemiol 54:979–985

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Jia ZJ, Hong B, Chen DM et al (2014) China's growing contribution to global intracranial aneurysm research (1991–2012): a bibliometric study. PLoS ONE 9:e91594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Weiser TG, Regenbogen SE, Thompson KD et al (2008) An estimation of the global volume of surgery: a modelling strategy based on available data. Lancet 372:139–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (2011) Levels of evidence. www.cebm.net/2016/05/ocebm-levels-of-evidence/. Accessed July 2019

  20. Cash-Gibson L, Rojas-Gualdrón DF, Pericàs JM et al (2018) Inequalities in global health inequalities research: a 50-year bibliometric analysis (1966–2015). PLoS ONE 13:e0191901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Kelaher M, Ng L, Knight K, Rahadi A (2016) Equity in global health research in the new millennium: trends in first-authorship for randomized controlled trials among low- and middle-income country researchers 1990–2013. Int J Epidemiol 45:2174–2183

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was unfunded.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Alessandro Sgrò

  2. Department of Medicine, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Ibrahim S. Al-Busaidi

  3. Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Cameron I. Wells

  4. Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Dominique Vervoort

  5. Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, NHS Grampian, Foresterhill Health Campus, Foresterhill Road, Aberdeen, UK

    Sara Venturini

  6. Città della Salute e della Scienza, Molinette, Turin, Italy

    Valeria Farina

  7. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Precision Medicine, Università Degli Studi Della Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy

    Federica Figà

  8. Faculty of Medicine, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Francesc Azkarate

  9. Department of Clinical Surgery, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SA, UK

    Ewen M. Harrison

  10. General Surgery Unit, Nicola Giannettasio Hospital, Corigliano-Rossano, Italy

    Francesco Pata

Authors
  1. Alessandro Sgrò
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ibrahim S. Al-Busaidi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cameron I. Wells
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Dominique Vervoort
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sara Venturini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Valeria Farina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Federica Figà
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Francesc Azkarate
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Ewen M. Harrison
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Francesco Pata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ibrahim S. Al-Busaidi.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Availability of data and materials

All data used in this article can be found on the Scopus® database using the search strategy outlined in the Methods section. A complete list of all included papers in available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Alessandro Sgrò, Ibrahim S. Al-Busaidi, and Cameron I. Wells are joint first authors.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sgrò, A., Al-Busaidi, I.S., Wells, C.I. et al. Global Surgery: A 30-Year Bibliometric Analysis (1987–2017). World J Surg 43, 2689–2698 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-019-05112-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-019-05112-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation