Bibliometrics of Tunisian publications on respiratory tract diseases from 2010 to 2014

Abstract

Aim: To describe the bibliometric characteristics of Tunisian publications on respiratory tract diseases, during the quinquennium 2010-2014.
Methods: This is a descriptive bibliometric study of respiratory medicine publications, indexed in "Medline", based on their MSDSs. All included articles were written by Tunisian researchers regardless of their position in the list of co-authors. The topics of the publications were explored through their "major" and "generic" keywords.
Results: A total of 340 publications was captured in Medline. These articles were co- authored by 218 authors in first position and 163 in last position. They were signed by pulmonologists, in first and last position respectively in 21.5% and 22.4% of articles. The A. Mami Hospital was the major affiliation of the first authors in 19.7% of the publications. These articles were published by 138 journals including "La Tunisie Medicale" in 11.8% of cases. They were "case reports" and written in English respectively in 44.4% and 54.1% of cases. Among 639 major keywords indexing, three were dominant: «Lung Neoplasms» (Tumeurs du poumon), «Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease» (Broncho-pneumopathie chronique obstructive) and «Tuberculosis, Pulmonary» (Tuberculose pulmonaire), in 13.5%, 10.3% and 7.4% of articles respectively.
Conclusion: Tunisian research on respiratory tract diseases has been thematically concordant with the public health needs. However, it has often been of low-level evidence and published in low-impact factor journals.