P.134 Neurosurgery research output in The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region: a scientometric analysis

Abstract

Background: Various challenges and innovations have led to the evolution of neurosurgery in the ASEAN region. This has increased interest among neurosurgeons to publish research papers for the past years. The study aims to compare the publication trend, and topic trend on research in the region using scientometric techniques. Methods: Publications from Web of Science (WoS) using the keywords “neurosurgery” OR “neurological surgery.” were obtained. Results only included English articles published from ASEAN countries. Publication, citation, collaboration, and text-co-occurrence analysis were done using WoS and VOSViewer. Results: 1951 articles published between 1996 to 2022 were analyzed. The ASEAN countries’ productivity are: Singapore (34.07%), Thailand (21.66%), Indonesia (15.25%), Malaysia (14.72%), Philippines (5.99%), Vietnam (5.15%), Cambodia (1.78%), Myanmar (1.16%), Brunei (0.21%). Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia were the top research collaborators. Publications have clusters of co-occurring keywords: (1) seizure, aneurysm, pain; (2) traumatic brain injury, mortality, functional outcome; (3) technology, application; (4) survey, training; (5) glioblastoma, brain metastases, chemotherapy. Conclusions: Trend in publications support the growing importance of neurosurgery. Variations in publications are attributed to differences in research interest, training, technology and culture between countries. These are relevant to aid in future capacity-building projects, research agendas, policy guidelines, and collaboration between countries, to improve research production.