Research productivity, collaboration patterns, and socio-economic correlates of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease research in Southeast Asia: a bibliometric analysis

Rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (RF/RHD) remain important causes of preventable cardiovascular morbidity in low- and middle-income settings, including Southeast Asia. Although research output on these conditions has increased globally, the extent, thematic focus, and distribution of research productivity within Southeast Asia have not been comprehensively characterized. This study aimed to examine the publication trends, collaboration patterns, funding distribution, thematic focus, and selected socio-economic correlates of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease research in Southeast Asia using bibliometric methods.

Original articles and conference papers on RF/RHD in SEA from 1900 to 2024 were identified using the Scopus database. Bibliometric indicators and citation data were extracted and summarized descriptively. Country collaboration networks and author keyword co-occurrence maps were visualized using VOSviewer. Associations between selected country-level socio-economic indicators and bibliometric measures were explored using correlation analysis.

A total of 333 records on RF/RHD published between 1900 and 2024 from various SEA countries were obtained. Regional publication output remained relatively high in recent years, although annual counts fluctuated and the 2024 output was incomplete at the time of search. Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines accounted for the largest share of regional output. However, despite this positive trend, SEA’s contribution to the global output for RF/RHD research is still below 2.5%. Notably, only one-fifth of the regional publications reported funding support, with marked disparities across countries. The retrieved literature was concentrated in themes related to diagnosis, surgery and complications, registries and epidemiology, anticoagulation, and valvular assessment. In contrast, topics such as social determinants of health, cost-effectiveness, implementation research, and patient-centered care appeared less represented. Country-level research productivity showed positive associations with selected socio-economic indicators and international collaboration, although these findings should be interpreted cautiously.

Research on RF/RHD in Southeast Asia has grown, but publication output and funding remain unevenly distributed across countries. Continued efforts to strengthen international collaboration and research support are needed to amplify research productivity in low-resource Southeast Asian settings.