Bibliometric study of research and development for neglected diseases in the BRICS

BACKGROUND: Large numbers of people are suffering from a group of diseases that mainly affect developing countries, as there are no available or affordable products for prevention or treatment. Research and development (R&D) for these diseases is still a low priority on the health agenda. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) are quickly growing economies and having more and more positive impact on global health. Additionally, their R&D capacity is believed to be enhanced through decades of investment in education and life science research. The BRICS, as a group of emerging and developing countries, are expected to make greater contributions to solving the problem that mainly affects the entire developing countries community. However, there has been little research to provide a macroscopic overview of BRICS’ effort in R&D for neglected diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate scientific production in BRICS countries in this area and their main research hotspots. METHODS: Global relevant literature was searched without time limits through PubMed and high yield countries were identified using GoPubMed. Literature up to the end of 2013 from the BRICS was obtained and high frequency words were extracted and clustered using Bibliography Item Co-occurrence Mining System 2.0 (BICOMS) and Graphical Clustering Toolkit 1.0 (gCLUTO). RESULTS: In total, 32, 47, 51, 31 and 44 high frequency words from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa respectively were extracted for clustering analysis. The clustering indicated that eight diseases were research hotspots in BRICS countries. India had the most extensive hotspots and Brazil came in second. The other three countries shared common research foci: helminthiasis, Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and tuberculosis. CONCLUSIONS: Developed countries still make the majority of contributions to R&D on neglected diseases, but BRICS countries are playing a growing role. Instead of the “big three diseases” (HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis) recognized by WHO, the BRICS focus more on major causes of disease burden in their own countries. Disease burden and domestic policy, especially patent law, exert primary influence on the research focus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-016-0182-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.