Vascular surgery research in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries

Objectives To evaluate the quantity and quality of published vascular surgery research articles from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries so as to identify areas for improvement. Design Descriptive study. Materials Published MEDLINE articles on vascular surgery from the GCC countries (1960-2010). Methods Critical analysis of the articles. Results A total of 146 articles were studied, majority of which were case series/case reports (55.5%); 33% of the articles were prospective. The first author was from a university in 67.1% of the articles. Only one randomized controlled trial was found. The median (range) impact factor of the journals was 1.16 (0.16-12.64). Kuwait had the highest number of publications/country, standardized/100,000 inhabitants. There were 11 experimental studies, which were all from Kuwait. More statistically significant, experimental vascular surgery papers were published prior to 1993 (11/30 compared with 0/111 afterward, p < 0.0001; Fisher exact test). The GCC countries had the lowest vascular surgery research output compared with Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan when standardized by the population. The h index of the GCC countries' vascular research publications was the lowest (19) compared with the other four countries (29-97). Furthermore, the average citation of the GCC countries (5.81) was similar to Turkey (5.66), but less than Hong Kong (17.38), Singapore (12.79), and Japan (11.75). Conclusion The quality and quantity of vascular surgery research in the GCC countries should be improved to answer important local questions related to vascular diseases. This needs better strategic planning and more collaboration between various institutions.