Diabetes mellitus in South A sia: Scientific evaluation of the research output (南亚糖尿病：要科学地评估研究成果)

Background Diabetes in South A sia represents a different disease entity in terms of its onset, progression, and complications. In the present study, we systematically analyzed the medical research output on diabetes in South A sia. Methods The online S ci V erse Scopus database was searched using the search terms “diabetes” and “diabetes mellitus” in the article T itle, A bstract or K eywords fields, in conjunction with the names of each regional country in the A uthor A ffiliation field. Results In total, 8478 research articles were identified. Most were from India (85.1%) and Pakistan (9.6%) and the contribution to the global diabetes research output was 2.1%. Publications from South Asia increased markedly after 2007, with 58.7% of papers published between 2000 and 2010 being published after 2007. Most papers were Research Articles (75.9%) and Reviews (12.9%), with only 90 (1.1%) clinical trials. Publications predominantly appeared in local national journals. Indian authors and institutions had the most number of articles and the highest h‐index. There were 136 (1.6%) intraregional collaborative studies. Only 39 articles (0.46%) had >100 citations. Conclusions Regional research output on diabetes mellitus is unsatisfactory, with only a minimal contribution to global diabetes research. Publications are not highly cited and only a few randomized controlled trials have been performed. In the coming decades, scientists in the region must collaborate and focus on practical and culturally acceptable interventional studies on diabetes mellitus.