The Current Status of Professional Journals in Dental and Oral Health From Arabic‐Speaking Countries
Author | Janine Owens,Donald Altman,Basil H. Aboul‐Enein,Joshua Bernstein |
Date | 01 June 2018 |
Published date | 01 June 2018 |
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.262 |
The Current Status of Professional Journals in Dental
and Oral Health From Arabic-Speaking Countries
Joshua Bernstein , Donald Altman, Janine Owens, and
Basil H. Aboul-Enein
The Arabic-speaking region is disproportionately affected by oral health conditions compared with
industrialized nations. The World Health Organization recommends oral health integration into
chronic disease programs in middle- to low-income countries. This article evaluates availability of
peer-reviewed dental and oral health publications in the Arabic-speaking region. Dental journals
were identified through (i) PubMed NLM Catalog Journals; (ii) Scopus; (iii) Google Scholar; (iv)
Science Direct; (v) the Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office; and (vi) Iraqi
Academic Scientific Journals database. Each journal site was evaluated for aim/scope, publication
period, activity status, format, and language. The search returned 28 dental and oral health
professional journals that fit the study parameters; all were tabled and described by evaluation
criteria. Language is a key element that emerged within the sample. The prevalence of online formats
may inhibit community-level practitioners from accessing regionally and culturally congruent
dental research.
KEY WORDS: professional journals, dental health, Arab speaking region
Introduction
Globally, oral health conditions affected 3.9 billion people in 2010; however,
the Arabic-speaking region was significantly and disproportionately affected
when compared with industrialized nations supported by oral health policy,
infrastructure, and research (Ogunbodede et al., 2015; Williams, Sheiham, &
Honkala, 2015). Some developing countries in North Africa and the Middle East
are experiencing significant increases in chronic oral health diseases in compari-
son with industrialized regions (Aboul-Enein, Bernstein, & Neary, 2016; Ogunbo-
dede et al., 2015; Williams et al., 2015). Between 1990 and 2010 disability-adjusted
life-years (DALYs) associated with untreated oral health conditions increased 30.7
percent in Northern Africa and the Middle East;, in contrast North America (0.1
percent), Europe (13.6 percent), the Caribbean (4.9 percent), and Asia-Pacific
(0.2) fared much better during the same data collection period (Marcenes et al.,
World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2018
169
doi: 10.1002/wmh3.262
#2018 Policy Studies Organization
To continue reading
Request your trial