Title: Profile of Medical Tunisian COVID-19 Publications Indexed in Pubmed and Web of Science: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis (2020–2024)

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly transformed scientific publishing worldwide, making bibliometric analysis essential for evaluating the productivity, impact, and collaboration patterns of research output. This study aimed to outline the bibliometric profile of Tunisian medical COVID-19-related publications. Methods Bibliometric analysis of Tunisian medical COVID-19-related publications indexed in PubMed and Web of Science (WoS) between 11 March 2020 and 5 May 2024 was performed. COVID-19-related bilingual MeSH terms were combined using Boolean operators, and the data were automatically extracted. The analyzed variables included productivity, collaboration, funding, and radiance (total citations, citations per publication [CPP], and journal SJR/JIF quartiles). Results A total of 771 publications were included, yielding 14,024 citations (CPP 18.18). Output peaked in 2022 (n=264; 34%) and declined sharply by 2024. The leading categories were Environmental & Occupational Health (13.8%) and Immunology (13%). Descriptive designs dominated (50.3%), and analytical and experimental studies were underrepresented. Most of the publications were in English (97%), appearing in 414 journals across 38 countries, with more than 52% in SJR Q1 journals. There was a high percentage of collaboration (93.9%), 56.8% of which were international and led by the USA and France. No Tunisian funding was identified; 14 papers reported a conflict of interest, mostly linked to multinational pharmaceutical companies. Conclusion Tunisian medical COVID-19 research has shown meaningful engagement with the global scientific community, with strong English-language output, international collaboration, and publication in high-ranking journals, although the output has remained modest overall. Future efforts should enhance both the quantity and quality of Tunisian medical research.