Women’s productivity in mental health research in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

Objectives

The productivity of women authors in the field of mental health in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) is not known. This study aims to explore women’s mental health research productivity in GCC countries.

Methods

The authors searched five databases for published articles from the GCC region in the field of mental health between 2015−2019. The gender of the authors was inferred from the first name. The authors examined the qualified articles for women authorship, h-index, and research design.

Results

The cumulative proportion of articles with women authors was 41.6 %. There was a significant difference across the countries; Bahrain has the highest percentage (79.3 %), while Oman had the lowest (33.8 %); p < 0.05. Out of the 428 articles that included at least one-woman author, 184 articles (43.0 %) had a woman first author, and 149 (30.4 %) had a woman as a senior author, the countries’ variations were significant; p < 0.05. The majority of women authors, except Qatar, were affiliated to academic institutes. The mean h-index of GCC women authors was 4. Descriptive research was the most common research design in most countries apart from Qatar, where experimental research was dominant.

Discussion

This is the first study to review GCC women’s research productivity in the field of mental health. Given the relatively short history of medical education and research in the region, the results appear promising, and the data generated shall serve as a foundation to promote further studies in the field.

Other Information

Published in: Asian Journal of Psychiatry
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102311