Status of Surgical Research and Publication in Africa

Abstract

Introduction: The research output in surgical branches such as orthopedics and sports medicine (OSM) is meager from Africa,  considering the population and the high burden of health-related problems. We conducted this study to analyze the trend of publications  in OSM from African countries and compared it with other surgical specialities. Methods: We used the SCOPUS data from  the Scimago Journal & Country Rank website, as it allows us to draw substantial journal metrics for research. Results: During the past  three decades (between 1996 and 2022), Africa’s global contribution to all surgical specialities has increased. In OSM, this was only 0.65%  in 1996 and had risen to 1.79% in 2022. The total publications in OSM were 8297 from 49 countries during this period. The number of  publications has risen from 61 (in 1996) to 931 (in 2022), with the maximum surge seen during the past decade. South Africa, Egypt, and  Tunisia are the leading African nations in OSM publications and have contributed 77% of the total publications from Africa in 2022. There  were only three orthopedic and four other surgical specialities indexed journals listed in the SCImago, arising from Africa. Conclusions:  There was an increased research output from Africa in OSM during 1996–2022, especially in the past decade. However, only three nations  have contributed more than three-fourth of these publications. There is a scarcity of indexed journals in the surgical disciplines arising  from Africa.