Bibliometric analysis of nutrition and dietetics research activity in Arab countries using ISI Web of Science database

Reducing nutrition-related health problems in Arab countries requires an understanding of the performance of Arab countries in the field of nutrition and dietetics research. Assessment of research activity from a particular country or region could be achieved through bibliometric analysis. This study was carried out to investigate research activity in "nutrition and dietetics" in Arab countries. Original and review articles published from Arab countries in "nutrition and dietetics" Web of Science category up until 2012 were retrieved and analyzed using the ISI Web of Science database. The total number of documents published in "nutrition and dietetics" category from Arab countries was 2062. This constitutes 1% of worldwide research activity in the field. Annual research productivity showed a significant increase after 2005. Approximately 60% of published documents originated from three Arab countries, particularly Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. However, Kuwait has the highest research productivity per million inhabitants. Main research areas of published documents were in "Food Science/Technology" and "Chemistry" which constituted 75% of published documents compared with 25% for worldwide documents in nutrition and dietetics. A total of 329 (15.96%) nutrition - related diabetes or obesity or cancer documents were published from Arab countries compared with 21% for worldwide published documents. Interest in nutrition and dietetics research is relatively recent in Arab countries. Focus of nutrition research is mainly toward food technology and chemistry with lesser activity toward nutrition-related health research. International cooperation in nutrition research will definitely help Arab researchers in implementing nutrition research that will lead to better national policies regarding nutrition.