Research Trends, Gaps, and Prospects for Viral Hepatitis in Southeast Asia: A Bibliometric Analysis

Viral hepatitis research has increased throughout the years. Thus, there is a need to understand the research landscape of viral hepatitis. In this paper, we conducted a bibliometric analysis to determine characteristics and trends of viral hepatitis research in Southeast Asia (SEA). A systematic review of literature of viral hepatitis in SEA was performed using Scopus. Bibliographic information and citation were obtained and VOSviewer software was used to visualize collaboration networks and keywords related to viral hepatitis. A total of 1943 articles was obtained from Scopus database. There was a general increase of viral hepatitis research on the region. Keyword analysis revealed that viral hepatitis research on SEA is mainly focused on evaluation of treatment, vaccines, and epidemiology of disease. Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia are the highest generators of viral hepatitis research in SEA. International collaboration, research and development expenditure, gross domestic product, and numbers of researchers per million people were found to be correlated with productivity of viral hepatitis research in SEA. Our study highlighted the research characteristics of viral hepatitis research in SEA. Policy makers should promote collaboration and increase investment on research to bridge knowledge gaps required to eliminate viral hepatitis.