Contribution of Iran in Alzheimer's Disease Research during 2010-2019; A Scientometric Analysis

Contribution of Iran in Alzheimer's Disease Research during 2010-2019; A Scientometric Analysis
Arash Ghazbani,¹ Mohammad Javad Mansourzadeh,² Golbarg Mehdizadeh,³ Mojtaba Ghobadi,⁴ Afshin Ostovar,^5,*
1. Student Research Committee, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
2. School of Allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
3. Student Research Committee, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
4. Department of Physiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
5. Osteoporosis Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Tehran, Iran.
Introduction: Alzheimer's disease is the most prevalent form of dementia and is a rising issue for global health. Due to the necessity of research to better address this important neurological disorder, this study was established aiming at reviewing Alzheimer's disease scientific publications by Iranian researchers.
Methods: The search process was performed on 28 Aug 2020. We searched for Alzheimer and all its related keywords in the Web of Science (WoS) database to find documents published by Iranian researchers from 2010 until 2019. Bibliographic parameters were assessed. The co-authorship matrix was calculated using Bibexcel, and visualizations were performed by VOSviewer.
Results: A total of 1042 documents from 4949 researchers (4.7 authors per document) were retrieved from WoS. Original articles [804(77.1%)] and reviews [169(16.2%)] were the most common types for Iranian publications and also one article was retracted. In terms of the number of publications, Iran ranked 20th in the WoS database. Time trend analysis demonstrated an ascending growth of publications in the field of Alzheimer's disease among Iranian researchers. Tehran University of Medical Sciences was the pioneer organization with 286 records (27.4%). The authorship distribution pattern revealed that 59.2% (617) of documents were written in small groups (1 to 5 authors). In results, Khodagholi F. with 57, Foroumadi A. with 48, and Nadri H. with 45 documents were the most active Iranian authors. The average citation per document was 20.68 (h-index=50). The European Journal of Medical Chemistry published the highest number of documents from Iranian authors in the field of Alzheimer's disease. Iranian authors mostly collaborated with researchers from the United States, Italy, Australia, and Canada, respectively. The co-occurrence network for keywords represented five publication clusters in the collection. The largest cluster was related to oxidative stress in Alzheimer's disease, followed by in-vivo studies in the field of brain neurons destruction.
Conclusion: Iranian researchers made significant contributions in the field of Alzheimer's disease during 2010-2019 and covered a wide range of Alzheimer's disease-related areas over the last decade. Also, based on Iran's publication rank in WoS, further research and contributions can be conducted by Iranian researchers.
Keywords: Tauopathy, Dementia, Alzheimer, Scientometrics, Publications