Bibliometric Analysis on Tuberculosis and Tuberculosis-Related Research Trends in Africa: A Decade-Long Study

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript has presented a research on the detailed analysis of the research papers, reviews, commentaries, and conference abstracts of tuberculosis related topics retrieved from the large literature database Web of Science contributed by African countries from year 2010 to 2019. The authors have analyzed the literature based on the topic words of tuberculosis research categorized based on the contributing authors, universities, and countries and also collaborations among authors from different universities of African countries and presented their findings with well organized and summarized graphical images and could serve as a well organized reference material for the researchers, clinical practitioners, policy makers and also university students who have interest in learning about the progress and status of tuberculosis research in Africa, a continent with heavy tuberculosis burden.

One suggestion for the improvement is that the manuscript can be edited by a scientific English language editor. Another would be if the authors are willing to and there is possibility, then based on the literature search, it would be desirable to include a brief history of African tuberculosis research highlighted with major significant events of scientific activities and achievements of scientific research in Africa which have memorable impact on tuberculosis treatment and prevention capacity of Africa and also on the progress and development of African tuberculosis research.

Author Response

Reviewer 1 comments and responses

Comment 1: This manuscript has presented a research on the detailed analysis of the research papers, reviews, commentaries, and conference abstracts of tuberculosis related topics retrieved from the large literature database Web of Science contributed by African countries from year 2010 to 2019. The authors have analyzed the literature based on the topic words of tuberculosis research categorized based on the contributing authors, universities, and countries and also collaborations among authors from different universities of African countries and presented their findings with well organized, and summarized graphical images and could serve as a well-organized reference material for the researchers, clinical practitioners, policy makers and also university students who have interest in learning about the progress and status of tuberculosis research in Africa, a continent with heavy tuberculosis burden.

Response: Thanks

Comment 2: One suggestion for the improvement is that the manuscript can be edited by a scientific English language editor.

Responses: The manuscript has been edited and errors have been corrected as directed by the reviewer.

Comment 3: Another would be if the authors are willing to and there is possibility, then based on the literature search, it would be desirable to include a brief history of African tuberculosis research highlighted with major significant events of scientific activities and achievements of scientific research in Africa which have memorable impact on tuberculosis treatment and prevention capacity of Africa and also on the progress and development of African tuberculosis.

Responses: The authors acknowledged the suggestions made by the reviewer in this section, however, this suggestion in not applicable in this study as it is not in the aim of the study, hence, adding this will deviate or change the focus and meaning of the study. In addition, in a feature study, we will focus on this area highlighted by the reviewer.

Reviewer 2 Report

Overall, this is an unique study and the bibliometric analysis should help strengthen collaboration and focus research in the TB field. In general, the manuscript requires editing for spelling and grammatical errors which will increase its impact. Some examples are given below:
1. Page 2, paragraph 2, line 24: Please correct ‘Southern African’ to Southern Africa.
2. Page 2, paragraph 2, line 36: Please correct ‘disjointed of some research’ to disjointed research.
3. Page 3, paragraph 2, lines 10-15: Three sentences start in a repeating fashion ‘Bibliometric analysis.’ Please correct this and combine some sentences if necessary.
4. Results section 3.2: Correct Plus One to PLoS One.
5. Figure 4: The labels are very hard to read. Fonts should be bigger.
6. A key datapoint to consider for this manuscript would be if bibliometric analysis can show if there is a correlation between countries and their publications in open access journals. This leads to the next point.
7. An important point to consider in the discussion is if there is a link between a country’s economy/research infrastructure and their number of publications/collaboration.
8. One argument made in the discussion is that the high publication rate of South Africa could be a result of high levels of TB infection in the country. Is there a similar correlation for other countries in Africa that have higher rates of publication?
9. Can bibliometric analysis show if there is a geographical link between countries with high publication/collaboration? Meaning are they neighboring countries?
10. The authors mention in the discussion that they observed little or no collaboration between non-English or less developed countries with English-speaking or developed countries. It would be very impactful to show the bibliometric analysis of these observations in the results. This leads to the next point.
11. In the Strengths and Limitation section: Please include some explanation/statement about how bibliometric analysis should not be interpreted. For example, the low publication/collaboration rate of a country should not suggest that the quality of scientific research is low.
12. It seems that bibliometric analysis is a great tool to help bring focus on research aspects in countries with lower rates of publication/collaboration. In the conclusion section please include or speculate on factors that should be the focus on future analysis in African countries with lower rates of publication/collaboration.

Author Response

Reviewer 2 comments and responses

Comments 1: Overall, this is a unique study, and the bibliometric analysis should help strengthen collaboration and focus research in TB field.

Response: Thanks

Comments 2: In general, the manuscript requires editing for spelling and grammatical errors which will increase its impact. Some examples are given below: Page 2, paragraph 2, line 24: Please correct ‘Southern African’ to Southern Africa.

Response: In page 2, paragraph 2, line 24, the word ‘Southern African’ has been changed to ‘Southern Africa’ as directed by the reviewer.

Comments 3: Page 2, paragraph 2, line 36: Please correct ‘disjointed of some research’ to disjointed research.

Response: In page 2, paragraph 2, line 36: the word ‘disjointed of some research’ has been changed to ‘disjointed research’ as directed by the reviewer.

Comments 4: Page 3, paragraph 2, lines 10-15: Three sentences start in a repeating fashion ‘Bibliometric analysis.’ Please correct this and combine some sentences if necessary.

Responses: In page 3, paragraph 2, lines 10-14: The sentences starting with the repeated word ‘Bibliometric analysis.’  have been combine in line 12-14 as directed by the reviewer.

Comments 5: Results section 3.2: Correct Plus One to PLoS One.

Responses: In the section 3.2 line 5, the word ‘Plus One’ has been changed to ‘PLoS One’ as directed by the reviewer.

Comments 6: Figure 4: The labels are very hard to read. Fonts should be bigger.

Responses: In Figure 4, the labels have been made visible and the fonts size is now bigger as directed by the reviewer.