title: Assessment of research productivity of Arab countries in the field of infectious diseases using Web of Science database.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To meet the future challenges of infectious diseases and limit the spread of multidrug resistant microorganisms, a better understanding of published studies in the field of infectious diseases is needed. The objective of this study was to analyze the quantity and quality of research activity in the field of infectious diseases in Arab countries and compare it with that in non-Arab countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Documents published in Arab countries within the research category of "infectious diseases" were extracted and analyzed using the Web of Science database. The data analyzed represent research productivity during the time interval between 1900 - 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Worldwide, the total number of documents published in the field of infectious diseases up to 2012 was 227,188. A total of 2,408 documents in the field of infectious diseases were published in Arab countries, which represents 1.06% of worldwide research output. Research output from Arab countries in the field of infectious diseases was low for decades. However, approximately a five-fold increase was observed in the past decade. Arab countries ranked 56(th) to 218(th) on the standard competition ranking (SCR) in worldwide publications in the field of infectious diseases. Egypt, with a total publication of 464 (19.27%) documents ranked first among Arab countries, while Kuwait University was the most productive institution with a total of 158 (6.56%) documents. Average citation per document published in Arab countries was 13.25 and the h-index was 64. Tuberculosis (230; 9.55%), malaria (223; 9.26%), and hepatitis (189; 7.8%) were the top three infectious diseases studied as according to the retrieved documents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present data reveals that some Arab countries contribute significantly to the field of infectious diseases. However, Arab countries need to work harder to bridge the gap in this field. Compared with non-Arab countries in the Middle East, research output from Arab countries was high, but more efforts are needed to enhance the quality of this output. Future research in the field should be encouraged and correctly directed.
authors: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Waleed M
authors: WM
authors: Sweileh
authors: Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Samah W
authors: SW
authors: Al-Jabi
authors: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Alaeddin
authors: A
authors: Abuzanat
authors: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Ansam F
authors: AF
authors: Sawalha
authors: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Adham S
authors: AS
authors: AbuTaha
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Mustafa A
authors: MA
authors: Ghanim
authors: Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
authors: Sa'ed H
authors: SH
authors: Zyoud
keywords: Arab world; Bibliometric; Infectious diseases; Web of science