Insights in Neuropsychiatry: Suicide and Self-Mutilation in the Mena Region- a Bibliometric Quantitative and Co-occurrence Medline-Based Analysis

Background Little is known about self-mutilation and suicide-related research in the Arab world. Aim We aim to quantify research activity related to suicide and self-mutilation, according to socio-economic factors, and assess inter-regional collaborations and trends of topics in the Arab world in the last 16 years. Methods A search was conducted through the PubMed database to find articles related to suicide and self-mutilation, according to author affiliation in the 22 Arab countries between 2004 and 2019 (inclusive), and standardized according to mean population, suicide, and self-mutilation disability associated life years (DALY), and gross domestic product (GDP). VOS Viewer was used for keyword and organization co-occurrence analysis. Results Only 0.61% of articles related to suicide and self-mutilation published between 2004 and 2019 were of Arab origin, compared to 1.76% in South America and 7.94% in Far East Asia. Suicide and self-mutilation articles make up 0.09% of the total publications in the Arab region. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon had the highest number of published articles related to suicide and self-mutilation. When comparing publications per million persons, Lebanon and Kuwait ranked first with 5.15 and 3.40 publications per million persons. Lebanon showed the highest number of publications per USD billion GDP, with 0.75 publications. The highest number of publications per 1% self-injury-related DALY was recorded in Saudi Arabia, with 46.97 publications. In recent years, VOS Viewer revealed poor inter-regional collaborations and a modest but increasing trend towards depression, poisoning, and cross-sectional studies. Conclusion Despite increasing publications, the region still lags in terms of suicide and self-mutilation research activity. A pan-Arab strategy should be implemented to refine suicide-related research and increase mental health awareness.