Paucity of trauma literature from a highly burdened developing country

Introduction Trauma is the leading cause of death among a younger population not only in USA but in Pakistan as well. The high prevalence of disease should result in a larger amount of data and a larger number of publications resulting in the ability to explore improvements in the field. This study aimed to review the trauma literature generated from Pakistan. Methods Journals indexed with PubMed from January 2010 to December 2014 were searched using the search term €Trauma AND Pakistan€ filtering for relevant dates and human reports only. The abstracts and articles were reviewed by the authors to collect data on a proforma. Results 114 articles were published from Pakistan during these five years; 64% of articles were published in international journals; 63% of articles were published in journals with an Impact Factor less than 1; 54% of articles were published from one of four provinces of Pakistan; 64% of articles provided Level 4 evidence whilst another 14% of articles provided Level 5 evidence on the topic; 55% of articles discussed epidemiology in non-representative populations. Conclusions Trauma literature from Pakistan is not only lacking significantly in quantity but is also of poor quality and is unable to offer conclusions on a particular trauma subject. There is huge room for improvement in the upcoming years.