Bibliometric analysis of the volume and visibility of Saudi publications in leading anesthesia journals

CONTEXT: The quantity and quality of publications by a country indicates its contribution towards scientific development. AIMS: To examine the volume and impact of the Saudi anesthesia publications in leading anesthesia journals. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Fifteen leading anesthesia journals were identified. Saudi publications in these journals from 1991 to 2011 were searched in the databases of Pubmed and Web of Knowledge. METHODS: For each article, the journal and time of publication, the type of the article and the affiliation of the first author were analysed. The visibility of the publications was related to the number of citations and was analysed for the years 2000 to 2008. Data were compared with selected Arab countries. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Two visibility indices were used. The first relates the average citations per Saudi articles in the years following publication to the average global citations. The second relates the average citations per Saudi article in the two years following publication to the impact factor of the journal of publication. The h-index was used as a measure of both volume and visibility. RESULTS: Anesthesiologists from Saudi affiliations published 173 documents in leading 15 anesthesia journals betweent the years 1991-2011, with a marked increase in the last 6 years. Anesthesia and Analgesia journal published 24% of Saudi articles. Saudi universities contributed to 55% of Saudi publications. The visibility of the Saudi articles was 0.7 of the international figures. CONCLUSIONS: Saudi anesthesia publications are increasing in recent years. Although the visibility of Saudi publications is below international figures, it compares favourably to Arab countries.