Scientometric Analysis of Toxicology in Asia Pacific Region: Signs of Growth

• Main Author: Reza Afshari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 2014-09-01
• Series: Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology
• Subjects: Asia; Bibliometrics; International Cooperation; Oceania; Toxicology
• Online Access: http://apjmt.mums.ac.ir/pdf_3376_128fc2c37fb44954c04658830113f07e.html
• ISSN: 2322-2611; 2322-4320

Background: In recent decades, the science of toxicology in Asia Pacific (AP) region has been expanding. In this study, the productivity of the science of toxicology in the timeframe of the years 1996 to 2013 in AP region was evaluated and was compared with Northern America (NA) region.   Methods: The SCImago portal was accessed to obtain the scientific indicators of toxicology science. The subject category of "toxicology" was used. In the SCImago portal, the AP region is divided into three sub-regions, Asiatic (AS), Pacific (PA) and Middle East (ME). To standardize the results, number of documents and citations of AP sub-regions in each time point were divided by their corresponding information from NA region. Results: In 1996, 3674 toxicology documents were published from NA region while in the same time 1308 documents were published from AS, 130 from PA and 144 from ME. These figures increased to 3985, 3893, 354 and 788 in the year 2013. While the total number of publications per year remained relatively stable in NA region over this 18-year period, this figure increased for AS and PA regions by about 3 times and for ME by about 5 times. The number of citations in the field of toxicology in AS, ME and PA regions, however, is still far behind NA. The percentage of toxicology documents that were produced through international collaboration in PA region was considerably higher than NA, AS and ME regions. Conclusion: The productivity of toxicology science in AP region has been increased over the past 18 years, though the level of citations is low compared to NA countries. International collaborations should be seriously considered and strengthen in AP countries.