A glance at one decade of water pollution research in Iranian environmental health journals

Abstract

Due to the importance of water, the negative effects of water pollution on human health and the lack of proper knowledge of the state of research in this regard, the purpose of this study was to analyse scientific publications on water pollution in Iranian journals of environmental health. This cross-sectional study was conducted using a scientometric method over a ten-year period (2008–2017) on articles published in five specialised environmental health journals emphasising the issue of water pollution. Data were collected through a researcher-based checklist using the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) recommendations. Data processing was done using descriptive statistics and VOSviewer software. A review of 1276 articles in specialised environmental health journals revealed that 33.7% of the articles were in the field of water. Physical and chemical factors in water were the main subjects of 21.4% of studies, and temperature and turbidity were the most important physical factors. Microbial agents in groundwater and surface water were the main subjects of 14.1% of the articles. The findings show that 55 of 430 articles related to water were written with contributions from 20 countries (including Iran), with the most contributions from researchers from Asia. Good conditions do not exist to investigate the status of articles on water pollution in specialised environmental health journals in Iran over a ten-year period. Health policymakers should therefore provide mechanisms to encourage national researchers, especially environmental health professionals, by setting national research priorities on quality and water pollution to conduct studies in this regard.