Breast cancer in Iran: The trend of Iranian researchers studies in MEDLINE database

Background: The high incidence of breast cancer in young women in Iran and its resultant problems for families show the necessity of exploring studies conducted in this field. The present research was conducted to determine the volume of scientific production on breast cancer in Iran, and to compare it with that of other countries in the Middle East. Methods: This systematic review study used scientometric indicators, and investigated Iran’s volume of scientific production on breast cancer in MEDLINE database during 2000-2014. The scientific production was searched in MEDLINE database and retrieved with a combined strategy consisting of the keywords from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), as well as, keywords suggested by specialists (physicians), and the data were transferred onto a checklist, which was designed in the Excel software, and were examined. Results: Iranian researchers have published 578 scientific documents on breast cancer in the studied period, with the highest rate in the subfield of epidemiology (39%), followed by the two subfields of basic and clinical molecular research. The mean participation of Iranian researchers was 5.3 persons per article. Almost 37% of Iranian articles were published in journals with impact factors between 0.693-4.469. Among all journals publishing Iranian articles, the Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Journal has the highest impact factor. The majority of Iranian articles were published in Thailand, the United States and the England. Conclusion: Iran’s scientific production on breast cancer has increased linearly in the studied period, in particular, after 2009