Arthroscopy and sports medicine research output from orthopedic surgeons in Saudi Arabia: Trends, quality, and global collaboration
Abdulaziz Z. Alomar, Khalid I. KhoshhalObjectives:
Arthroscopy and sports medicine (ASM) represents a dynamic and expanding subspecialty within orthopedic surgery. Understanding national ASM research output is essential to guide policy development, funding allocation, and capacity building in Saudi Arabia (SA). This study aimed to quantify trends, institutional contributions, and research quality in ASM publications authored by orthopedic surgeons affiliated with SA between 2000 and 2025.
Methods:
A bibliometric analysis of ASM-related articles published between January 01, 2000, and August 30, 2025, was conducted by searching PubMed. Articles were included if at least one author was affiliated with an orthopedic department in SA. Extracted variables included publication trends, citations, author affiliations, journal characteristics, and study design. Journal-level metrics (impact factor, h-index, and quartile ranking) were obtained from external databases. Descriptive and bibliometric analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and the Bibliometrix R package.
Results:
A total of 191 articles were included. ASM publications from SA demonstrated a compounded annual growth rate of 17.2%. Overall, 68% of articles were published in Q1–Q2 journals. The mean citation count was 12.10/article. Most studies (68.6%) were conducted in SA, with King Saud University contributing 22% of publications. Knee-related research accounted for 58.6% of all articles.
Conclusion:
ASM research output from SA has increased substantially in both quantity and quality over the past 25 years. Sustained institutional, economic, and infrastructural support is required to maintain and further enhance this positive research trajectory. This analysis was based on articles available in PubMed alone; more comprehensive studies utilizing additional databases may be considered for future analysis.