The Research Scenario of Oncology in Asia: A Study

Oncology is a very popular and widely studied subject field in the biomedical sciences, not for the fact that a sizeable portion of the global populace suffers with malignant (cancerous tumors), but for the fact that medical sciences has not yet developed complete understanding and the control over the disease. Given the fact, the present study examines the amount of research undertaken in the field of oncology in Asia (the largest continent of the world), during the last decade viz. for the period 2003–2012, with special emphasis on leading research countries of the continent. Some of the aspects analyzed in the study include, research output, citation analysis etc.

Although the study is confined to Asia, but since the analysis at most of the places has been undertaken comparing the data with the rest of the world has helped us to draw parallels between the oncology research scenario between the Asia and the world. The study can be taken forward and extended to other continents of the world as well. The study is based on secondary data, retrieved from the official website of the SCImago Journal and Country Ranking, which is based on the SCOPUS data source and is supported by empirical findings. The Asia's contribution to the global oncology research output during the period of study remained (70555, 22.71%), as a total of 310593 research articles were published in the field of oncology at the global level during the period. The Japan emerged as the largest oncology research country from Asia, having contributed (22603, 32%) of total research output in the field. China, South Korea and India are the other three leading oncology research countries from Asia, having contributed (21948, 31.10%), (6441, 9.12%) & (3978, 5.63%) research articles respectively. The average annual research growth of oncology research during the period in the Asia remained 13.81%, which is far better when compared to 8.15% of the global oncology research growth during the same period.