Geriatric Research in Saudi Arabia: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: This bibliometric analysis was performed to assess the research trends and productivity from Saudi Arabia in the field of geriatrics.

Methods: In this descriptive study, we collected bibliometric data for manuscripts published from Saudi Arabia between the year 1980 to June 2018. Data were retrieved from PubMed; Embase; MEDLINE; CINAHL and Google Scholar using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms: “Saudi”, “Elder”, “Older”, “Gerontology”, “Seniors”, “Senility” “Geriatric” and “Ageing”. The number of published papers overall and citations per paper were also collected.

Results: From the publications analyzed between the year 1980 to June 2018, 91% of the articles were published between the years 2000 -2018, indicating the major contribution from Saudi Arabia in the field of geriatric research has been in the recent 20 years. In total, 34 publications were retrieved, of which, 85% were cross-sectional studies, with 66% of the studies carried out in hospitals or primary health care centers. The sub-topics with maximum number of publications included mental health, musculoskeletal health, and socio-gerontology. The most cited publications were related to the topics of depression, psychosocial health and osteoporosis.

Conclusions: Despite the recent increase in geriatric research in Saudi Arabia, the research output and quality of publications were low and did not address commonly seen geriatrics health conditions such as dementia, delirium and polypharmacy. More high quality research directed to address common geriatrics conditions is needed to better inform decision making. Building research capacities, enhancement of infrastructure, and provision of adequate support from funding bodies are required interventions to enable geriatric research in Saudi Arabia to operate at a maximum efficiency.