title: Impact of GDP, spending on R&D, number of universities and scientific journals on research publications among Asian countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to compare the impact of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, spending on Research and Development (R&D), number of universities, and Indexed Scientific Journals on total number of research documents (papers), citations per document and Hirsch index (H-index) in various science and social science subjects among Asian countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 40 Asian countries were included. The information regarding Asian countries, their GDP per capita, spending on R&D, total number of universities and indexed scientific journals were collected. We recorded the bibliometric indicators, including total number of research documents, citations per document and H-index in various science and social sciences subjects during the period 1996-2011. The main sources for information were World Bank, SCI-mago/Scopus and Web of Science; Thomson Reuters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean per capita GDP for all the Asian countries is 14448.31±2854.40 US$, yearly per capita spending on R&D 0.64±0.16 US$, number of universities 72.37±18.32 and mean number of ISI indexed journal per country is 17.97±7.35. The mean of research documents published in various science and social science subjects among all the Asian countries during the period 1996-2011 is 158086.92±69204.09; citations per document 8.67±0.48; and H-index 122.8±19.21. Spending on R&D, number of universities and indexed journals have a positive correlation with number of published documents, citations per document and H-index in various science and social science subjects. However, there was no association between the per capita GDP and research outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Asian countries who spend more on R&D have a large number of universities and scientific indexed journals produced more in research outcomes including total number of research publication, citations per documents and H-index in various science and social science subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University Diabetes Centre, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. sultanmeo@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sultan Ayoub
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Meo
authors.forename: Abeer A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Al Masri
authors.forename: Adnan Mahmood
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Usmani
authors.forename: Almas Naeem
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Memon
authors.forename: Syed Ziauddin
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Zaidi
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000191:economics*; D059066:Gross Domestic Product; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*