title: Bibliometric analysis of worldwide publications on multi-, extensively, and totally drug - resistant tuberculosis (2006-2015).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The year 2015 marked the end of United Nations Millennium Development Goals which was aimed at halting and reversing worldwide tuberculosis (TB). The emergence of drug resistance is a major challenge for worldwide TB control. The aim of this study was to give a bibliometric overview of publications on multi-, extensively, and totally drug-resistant TB.
  
  
  METHODS
  Scopus database was used to retrieve articles on multidrug resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and totally drug-resistant (TDR) tuberculosis for the study period (2006-2015). The number of publications, top productive countries and institutions, citation analysis, co-authorships, international collaboration, active authors, and active journals were retrieved and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2260 journal articles were retrieved. The mean ± SD citations per article was 7.04 ± 16.0. Theh-index of retrieved data was 76. The number of publications showed a three - fold increase over the study period compared with less than two - fold increase in tuberculosis research during the same study period. Stratified by number of publications, the United States of America ranked first while Switzerland ranked first in productivity per 100 million people, and South Africa ranked first in productivity stratified per one trillion Gross Domestic Product. Three of the High Burden Countries (HBC) MDR-TB (India, China, and South Africa) were present in top productive countries. High percentage of international collaboration was seen among most HBC MDR-TB. Except forPlos Onejournal, most active journals in publishing articles on MDR, XDR, TDR-TB were in infection - related fields and in general medicine. Top 20 cited articles were published in prestigious journal such asLancetandNew England Journal of Medicine. The themes in top 20 cited articles were diverse, ranging from molecular biology, diagnostic tools, co-infection with HIV, and results of new anti-TB drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Publications on MDR, XDR and TDR - TB are increasing in the past decade. International collaboration was common. Many low resourced African and Asian countries will benefit from research leading to new diagnostic and screening technology of TB. The exchange of expertise, ideas and technology is of paramount importance in this field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology/ Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839 Palestine.
authors.forename: Waleed M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Sweileh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology/ Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839 Palestine.
authors.forename: Adham S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: AbuTaha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology/ Toxicology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839 Palestine.
authors.forename: Ansam F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Sawalha
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Genetics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839 Palestine.
authors.forename: Suleiman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Khalil
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839 Palestine.
authors.forename: Samah W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Al-Jabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839 Palestine.
authors.forename: Sa'ed H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zyoud
keywords: Bibliometrics; Drug Resistance; Tuberculosis