International Journal of Microbiology and Allied Sciences REVIEW ARTICLE CURRENT STATUS OF MICROBIOLOGY AND MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY RESEARCH IN SAARC COUNTRIES Aftab Ahmad 1, Sagar Aryal 2, Saumyadip Sarkar 3 OPEN ACCESS 1 National Academy of Young Scientists (NAYS), Pakistan 2 Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier s College, Kathmandu, Nepal 3 Department of Human Genetics, Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India Corresponding author: Aftab Ahmad (Email: aftabac@yahoo.com) ABSTRACT There are 8 countries in SAARC region which have common feature in the form of geography and climate conditions. Although region has huge population but scientific output from the region is very less compared to European or North American countries and especially in specialized fields such as microbiology and medical microbiology. The present study is to highlight current status of microbiology research in the region. The whole SAARC region produced 8,540 and 6,726 publications in microbiology and medical microbiology respectively in 10 years (2004-13) which are almost 5 times less then USA alone. In addition, the whole region produced 997 and 727 publication in microbiology and medical microbiology respectively in 2013 which are very less compared to USA alone. There are specialized microbiology related science societies in half of the SAARC countries while Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka don t have a specialized society yet. There are just 3 specialized journals with IF from the whole region and all of them are based in India. Overall scientific progress in the field of microbiology is less which concrete efforts to promote this important field of research and it needs need cooperation at all levels. Key words: SAARC, microbiology, medical microbiology, publications, research.
INTRODUCTION The world around us is full of organisms that are too small to be seen with naked eye like bacteria, virus, fungi, algae and protozoa etc. These microbes live in a wide range of habitats from hot springs to the human body and depth of ocean. They affect each and every aspects of life on earth. We can all think of a few microbes that make us ill like the viruses that cause cold, hepatitis and flu, or food poisoning bacteria etc. However, there are many more microbes living harmlessly alongside us playing a vital role in the planet s nutrients cycles, from fixing nitrogen and carbon dioxide at the beginning of the food chain right through to decomposing and recycling essentials nutrients at the end of it [1, 2]. Microbes are also essential for the production of many foods and medicines. Microbes have always affected our health, food and environment and they will play an important role in the big issues that face us in the future including climate change, renewable energy resources, healthier lifestyles and controlling diseases etc. [3]. Microorganisms were first seen and described by the Dutch lensmaker Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 1723), who devised simple microscopes [4]. Microbiology is not limited to the study of structural diversity and classification of microbes but encompasses the whole range of microbial life. The knowledge of the various aspects of microbes has been accumulating since last century and has become so vast that no microbiologist can claim familiarity with all aspects of the subject. The various aspects of microbiological study can be divided mainly into bacteriology, virology, mycology, parasitology etc. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional organization comprise of 8 countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri-Lanka. The organization was launched on 8th December, 1985. SAARC countries were connected as these countries share common features as geography and climate conditions. The population of SAARC countries is over 1,500 million people which make it one of the world largest regional organizations. What is status of research in SAARC countries especially in area of microbiology and clinical microbiology will be focus of present study so we could know the current status of research in both of the areas and ways to promote it in the region [6,7]. Number of Publications There is lot of difference in number of publications in area of microbiology in SAARC countries and India is the leading country of the region in area of publications. If we compare the number of publications in 10 years period (2004-13) India produced 7,710 publications in area of microbiology and 5,814 in medical microbiology followed by Pakistan which produced 426 and 308 publications in microbiology and medical microbiology respectively. Bangladesh produced comparable number of publications with Pakistan and produced more in medical microbiology 350 while 279 in microbiology. The numbers of publications were comparable in Nepal and Sri Lanka and they produced 47 and 68 in microbiology while 127 and 93 in medical microbiology respectively. Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives could produce very limited number of publications in both microbiology and medical microbiology (Fig. 1). If we compare the number of publications with USA only which has produced 43,004 and 32,616 publications in area of microbiology and medical microbiology respectively in 10 years, and as compared to USA, SAARC region has produced just 8,540 and 6,726 publications which is almost 5 times less than USA only [7].
Microbiology Medical Microbiology 7710 5814 426308 279350 47 127 68 93 4 25 5 7 1 2 Fig. 1. Total number of publications in area of microbiology and medical microbiology of SAARC countries in 10 years (2004-13). Publications in 2013 If we compare the number of publications in the year 2013 in area of microbiology and medical microbiology in SAARC countries, India is taking the lead with 857 and 592 publications in area of microbiology and medical microbiology respectively while Pakistan and Bangladesh produced comparable number of publications 75 and 42 in microbiology and 53 and 45 in medical microbiology respectively. Nepal and Sri Lanka produced the same number of publications 10 in microbiology and 16 in medical microbiology respectively while Maldives could not produce a single publication in both microbiology and medical microbiology respectively. Once again if we compare with USA which has produced 4,457 and 3,433 publications in microbiology and medical microbiology, SAARC region has produced much less as the whole region could produce only 997 and 727 publications in area of microbiology and medical microbiology respectively in the year 2013 (Fig. 2) [7]. Microbiology Medical Microbiology 857 592 75 53 42 45 10 16 10 16 1 2 2 3 0 0
Fig. 2. Total number of publications in area of microbiology and medical microbiology from SAARC countries in 2013. Microbiology Societies in SAARC countries Scientific societies play very important role for the promotion of science and as science advanced, many specialized societies also emerged. These societies provide a nucleation point to scientists of specific discipline and also arrange different scientific activates to promote and extend discipline. In addition, they also prepare ethical and other important guidelines for specific subjects [8]. We investigated the presence of microbiology related societies in SAARC region through online search and came up with number of societies in the region with most number in India. The name of societies, year of establishment and their website are given in Table. 1. Table. 1: List of microbiology societies in SAARC countries S.No. Name of organization ESTD Country Website 1 2 3 Indian Association of Medical Microbiology Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists Nepalese Association of Medical Microbiologists 1976 India http://www.iamm.in/ 2006 Bangladesh http://bsm.org.bd/ Nepal 4 MCB Society (IISc) 1941 India http://mcbl.iisc.ernet.in/ 5 6 7 8 The Association of Microbiologists of India Indian Association of Pathologists and Microbiologists Microbiology Association of Bangladesh Bangladesh Society for Veterinary Microbiology and Public Health 1938 India http://www.amiindia.info/ 1949 India http://www.iapm.org.in/ 2004 Bangladesh http://www.mbcu.ac.bd/mi crobiology-association- of%20-bangladesh- mab.html 2011 Bangladesh http://www.bsvmph.org/ 9 Bangladesh Society of Pathologists 2008 Bangladesh http://www.bspbd.org/ 10 Medical Microbiology Association of Pakistan 2010 Pakistan 11 Pakistan Society for Microbiology 1974 Pakistan http://www.microbiology.p k/about/ http://www.microbiologyp k.org/
12 Nepalese Society for Microbiology (NESOM) 1995 Nepal http://nesomnepal.org/ There is no Microbiological Societies present in Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka so far. Subject specific Research Journals Although there are several journals in area of microbiology in SAARC countries but we only checked those journals which are listed in web of science (http://wokinfo.com/) and have an impact factor (IF). There is not a single journal which has IF in area of microbiology from SAARC countries except 3 journals from India. The list of total IF journals and the one with IF in area of microbiology are listed in Table. 2. The name of three Indian journals in area of microbiology are listed in Table 3. Table: 2. Total number of IF journals and journal related to microbiology in SAARC countries. S.No. Country Number of Journals Journals related to Microbiology 1 Maldives 0 0 2 Afghanistan 0 0 3 Bhutan 0 0 4 Sri Lanka 1 0 5 Nepal 1 0 6 Bangladesh 4 0 7 Pakistan 12 0 8 India 100 3 Total 118 3 Table: 3. Name of IF journal in area of microbiology from India S.No. Name of the Journal Country 1 Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology India 2 Indian Journal of Microbiology India 3 Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology India FUTURE PERSPECTIVES In order to promote research in area of microbiology and clinical microbiology we need to focus on following points in SAARC region. 1. A regional microbiology society or chapters of regional microbiology societies can be establish to promote collaborative research. 2. Some SAARC countries do not have microbiology societies so efforts should be made to establish societies in those countries as societies can better communicate with national scientists.
3. As SAARC countries are facing so many microbiology related challenges so there should be annual meeting of respective scientists to share knowledge and expertise to solve the problem and also can plan many things in advance. 4. There should be a center of excellence in area of microbiology as there are so many center of excellence in Europe so that not only better research could be done but also the expertise could be shared in the region. 5. Tuberculosis and Hepatitis are big problem in SAARC region so there should be concrete effort to prevent these diseases as treatment is very expansive so the SAARC countries with limited resources should focus on better preventive measures. 6. As we mentioned that the scientific output from the SAARC region is very less and number of publication from the whole region is much less then USA alone so effort should be made to promote research and to develop research infrastructure in the region with more funding for research. 7. Regional training workshops should be organize on different topics so trained workforce could be produced to meet the present day and future challenges (medical and environmental microbiology related issues). 8. In order to have long term relations among the scientists, young scientists from the region should be involved so they could cooperate with each other and better networking among the young scientists could be developed. Different microbiology related network already exists (We the Microbiologist (India), Microbiology World (Nepal), Medical Microbiology association of Pakistan (Pakistan), National Academy of Young Scientists (Pakistan)) so there is only need to better link these networks. 9. A regional microbiology related journal could also be a good option to promote regional microbiology research and also a better chance to publish research related to microbiology and medical microbiology. 10. A regional meeting should be organized to set 10 years goal and then proper planning and efforts should be done to achieve those goal. REFERENCES 1. Michael T. Madigan, et al. Brock Biology of Microorganisms. 12th ed. New York: Pearson Benjamin Cummings, 2009. Print. 2. P. Chakraborty. A Text Book of Microbiology. 2nd ed. Kolkata: New Central Book Agency (P) Ltd, 2003. Print. 3. Richard A. Harvey, et al. Lippincott s Illustrated Reviews: Microbiology. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2013. Print. 4. W. W. C. Topley. Topley and Wilson's Microbiology and Microbial Infections: Bacteriology 10th ed. Wiley, 2006. 5. Chauhan P ISSN : 2278-6236 DEMOGRAPHY OF AGING IN SAARC COUNTRIES. 2:125 139. 6. Chauhan CPS (2008) Higher Education : Current Status and Future Possibilities. 2:29 48. doi: 10.3890/1542-3882-2-2 7. Scimago Journal & Country Rank. http://www.scimagojr.com/howtocite.php. Accessed 23 Jul 2014 8. Caelleigh AS (2003) Roles for scientific societies in promoting integrity in publication ethics. Sci Eng Ethics 9:221 241. doi: 10.1007/s11948-003-0010-4