Bibliographic Analysis of Oral Precancer and Cancer Research Papers from Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: Oral cancer and precancers are a major public health challenge in developing countries. Researchers in Saudi Arabia have constantly been directing their efforts on oral cancer research and have their results published. Systematic analysis of such papers is the need of the hour as it will not only acknowledge the current status but will also help in framing future policies on oral cancer research in Saudi Arabia. METHOD: The search string “oral cancer” OR “Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma” OR “oral premalignant lesion” OR “oral precancer” OR “Oral Potentially malignant disorder” AND AFFIL (Saudi AND Arabia ) was used for retrieval of articles from Scopus database. Various tools available in Scopus database were used for analyzing the bibliometric related parameters. RESULTS: The search revealed a total of 663 publications based on the above query. Maximum affiliations were from King Saud University (163) followed by Jazan University (109) and then King Abdulaziz University (106). A large number of international collaborations were observed, the maximum with India (176) and the USA (127). The maximum number of articles were published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention (34) followed by the Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice (33) and Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine (19). CONCLUSION: Saudi researchers are directing their efforts towards the public health menace of oral cancer. However, it was also observed that some institutions have emerged as front runners in research, whereas others are contributing significantly less. The health department should encourage and take necessary steps to increase the involvement of other institutions.