Global Dental Research Productivity and Its Association With Human Development, Gross National Income, and Political Stability.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to examine the associations between country level factors (such as human development, economic productivity, and political stability) and their dental research productivity.


METHODS
This study is a cross-sectional analysis of bibliometric data from Scopus search engine. Human Development Index (HDI), Gross National Income per capita (GNI), and Failed State Index measures were the independent variables. Outcomes were "Total number of publications (articles or articles in press) in the field of dentistry" and "Total number of publications in the field of dentistry per million population." Non-parametric tests were used to examine the association between the independent and outcome variables.


RESULTS
During the year 2013, a total of 11,952 dental research articles were published across the world. The top 5 publishing countries were United States, Brazil, India, Japan, and United Kingdom. "Very High" HDI countries had significantly higher number of total dental research articles and dental research articles per million population when compared to the "High HDI," "Medium HDI," and "Low HDI" countries (p < 0.0001). There was a significant linear relationship between the GNI quartile income levels and outcome metrics (p ≤ 0.007). Countries which were highly politically stable were associated with significantly higher dental research productivity (p < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
There appears to be a regional concentration of articles with just five countries contributing to over 50% of all articles. The human development and economic development of a country are linearly correlated with dental research productivity. Dental research productivity also increases with increasing political stability of a country.
Department of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. Electronic address: Veerasathpurush-Allareddy@uiowa.edu.
Veerasathpurush
V
Allareddy
Department of Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology and Oral Medicine, College of Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Veeratrishul
V
Allareddy
College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Sankeerth
S
Rampa
Office of Global Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Romesh P
RP
Nalliah
Departments of Periodontics, College of Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Satheesh
S
Elangovan
D015706:Bibliometrics; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018865:Dental Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057217:Economic Development; D059066:Gross Domestic Product / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007194:India; D038622:Internationality; D007564:Japan; D011057:Politics; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States
Bibliometrics; Dental research; Global research; Human development; Journal metrics; Journal publishing; Political stability