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Topic · Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Global Health and Surgery

Global Health and Surgery is a research topic within Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the intersection of global surgery, health development, and public health diplomacy. It addresses the challenges and solutions for providing surgical care in low-income countries, the ethical considerations in global health initiatives, the importance of health research capacity building, and the role of anaesthesia services in improving surgical outcomes. Additionally, it emphasizes the impact of medical education on global health and highlights the need for collaborative efforts to address disparities in surgical care worldwide.

  • Global Surgery
  • Health Development
  • Surgical Care
  • Global Health
  • Low-Income Countries
  • Medical Education
  • Ethical Considerations
  • Health Research Capacity
  • Anaesthesia Services
  • Public Health Diplomacy
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+25%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
42% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Global Health and Surgery

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Global Health and Surgery research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.3k and 482 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.3k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 482 works
  3. 3 India 219 works
  4. 4 Canada 195 works
  5. 5 Australia 194 works
  6. 6 South Africa 186 works
  7. 7 Nigeria 152 works
  8. 8 Ethiopia 138 works
  9. 9 Brazil 114 works
  10. 10 Germany 96 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 42.1%United Kingdom: 15.7%India: 7.1%Canada: 6.3%6 others listed: 28.7%42%largest
United States1,293 · 42.1%United Kingdom482 · 15.7%India219 · 7.1%Canada195 · 6.3%6 others listed881 · 28.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Global Health and Surgery research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Global Health and Surgery research, followed by World Health Organization and Johns Hopkins University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 66 works
  2. 2 World Health OrganizationSwitzerland 41 works
  3. 3 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 35 works
  4. 4 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 32 works
  5. 5 Aga Khan UniversityPakistan 32 works
  6. 6 University of TorontoCanada 31 works
  7. 7 University of Cape TownSouth Africa 31 works
  8. 8 Makerere UniversityUganda 30 works
  9. 9 London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineUnited Kingdom 28 works
  10. 10 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 27 works

Who are the leading researchers in Global Health and Surgery?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Global Health and Surgery include David Moher, Christopher J L Murray and Freddie Bray.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
  3. 3 Freddie Bray France 550k citations
  4. 4 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  5. 5 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  6. 6 Theo Vos United States 439k citations
  7. 7 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  8. 8 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  9. 9 Jost Bruno Jonas Germany 350k citations
  10. 10 Valery L. Feigin New Zealand 341k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Global Health and Surgery?

The most cited paper in Global Health and Surgery is "Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019" (Theo Vos et al., 2020), with 19,980 citations. Next come "Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world" (6,031) and "Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development" (3,853).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 Theo Vos et al. · The Lancet Open access1,030 authors Oct 2020 19,980
2 Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world Julio M. Frenk, Lincoln Chen, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta et al. · The Lancet Open access 30 Nov 2010 6,031
3 Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development John Gerard Meara et al. · The Lancet Open access 26 Apr 2015 3,853
4 Global, regional, and national causes of under-5 mortality in 2000–15: an updated systematic analysis with implications for the Sustainable Development Goals Li Liu, Shefali Oza, Dan Hogan et al. · The Lancet Open access 10 Nov 2016 3,616
5 An estimation of the global volume of surgery: a modelling strategy based on available data Thomas G. Weiser, Scott E. Regenbogen, Katherine D. Thompson et al. · The Lancet 25 Jun 2008 2,560
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Global Health and Surgery research done?

The largest centres of Global Health and Surgery research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Nairobi (Kenya) and Boston (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in London.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 158 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 72 works
  3. 3 NairobiKenya 69 works
  4. 4 BostonUnited States 59 works
  5. 5 KampalaUganda 58 works
  6. 6 Washington D.C.United States 53 works
  7. 7 Addis AbabaEthiopia 53 works
  8. 8 TorontoCanada 47 works
  9. 9 BaltimoreUnited States 45 works
  10. 10 CambridgeUnited States 44 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. London23.3 works30×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Global Health and Surgery than the world average.

See Global Health and Surgery on the map

Where is the best place to study Global Health and Surgery?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Brighton, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Aga Khan University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%50%100%mean 22.08%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of BrightonLondon School of Hyg…Aga Khan UniversityMakerere University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of BrightonUnited Kingdom 58.097.3%32.5×8 -
2London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineUnited Kingdom 56.019.5%40.3×28 +37.0%
3Aga Khan UniversityPakistan 48.210.4%40.3×32 +41.4%
4Makerere UniversityUganda 48.09.6%38.2×30 +62.8%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 46.28.7%5.2×32 +38.7%
6University of GhanaGhana 45.412.2%22.9×26 +125.1%
7University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 45.110.1%14.5×27 +25.3%
8Harvard UniversityUnited States 44.910.1%4.7×66 -20.1%
9University College LondonUnited Kingdom 41.917.4%3.5×24 +24.9%
10University of GondarEthiopia 41.525.5%24.4×16 +124.3%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Global Health and Surgery, country by country

Is Global Health and Surgery research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Global Health and Surgery.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Global Health and Surgery as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Global Health and Surgery0.023% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Global Health and Surgery over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Global Health and Surgery10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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