Four decades of hand microsurgery in Iran: A bibliographic analysis

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis to assess the number of articles published by Iranian researchers in the field of hand and microsurgery over the last four decades. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An online search was conducted using 685 keywords in the abstract/title sections of articles, including carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist fractures, nerve injury and repair, skin flap and graft in the hand, congenital disorders in the hand and forearm, tumor in the hand and wrist, and infection in the hand and wrist. From February 1976 to May 2021, EndNote software version 8.1 was used to search articles in PubMed and Scopus databases. Articles in which at least one of the authors was affiliated with Iran were chosen. The name of the original institution, field of study, total number of publications, type of study, collaboration rate of Iranian hand surgeons for each year, and annual sharing of Iranian articles in journals with the highest cite scores in the field of hand and microsurgery were all examined in the present study. RESULTS: The total number of publications in the field of hand and microsurgery was 632 (an average of 11 papers per year). Most of the Iranian hand and microsurgery papers were from the capital city, Tehran (38.09%). There was an increasing trend in the number of publications over the years, most which were about carpal tunnel syndrome (21.5%), tendon (9.8%), and nerve (9.6%). In total, 59.6% were descriptive articles, whereas the proportion of clinical trials was relatively small (22.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Iranian hand microsurgeons have continued to increase their scientific output in hand microsurgery and related fields over the last 40 years. The quality of Iranian hand microsurgeons’ scientific output, both within and outside their discipline, has greatly improved; however, they still have a long way to go before becoming a hub of science. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV, retrospective study without control group.