The academic significance of health and medical research lies in its explicit contributions to existing knowledge and the development of new theories and hypotheses that advance academic progress across disciplines, progress science, and improve health outcomes. One of such papers in my research career has become Current state of ethical challenges reported in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review & bibliometric analysis from 2010 to 2021  published in BMC Medical Ethics in 2022.

Over the past decade, my medical research in the Middle East, combined with my deep interest in medical ethics, has led me to collaborate with pioneers of Islamic bioethics. Together, we aimed to identify aspects of clinical care that may be perceived differently in the West. This experience, along with my training at the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics at Yale University in New Haven, CT, has allowed me to explore a wide range of bioethical issues, motivating this paper.

In preparing this paper, I was mindful that while contemporary bioethical research encompasses issues such as stem cell research, genetics and biobanking, cloning, and infertility treatment, bioethics in Saudi Arabia is still in its infancy, exploring the very foundations of medical ethics. Accordingly, this study presented fundamental areas of bioethics to shed light on core ethical questions and applied ethics in Saudi Arabia. My task was not only to collect data but also to use the most rigorous methodology to ensure the validity and reliability of the data presented. In this context, I conducted a systematic review and bibliometric analysis, describing each step in as much detail as possible to enable future researchers to replicate the study in their own.

As a result, the article Current state of ethical challenges reported in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review & bibliometric analysis from 2010 to 2021 has proven to be one of the most influential works for my colleagues, international researchers, Saudi ethicists, and me. Since its publication, the article has received 34 citations, which, while not a measure of success, does demonstrate that it has generated 34 new research hypotheses not only in Saudi Arabia but throughout the Middle East.

Little did I know then that this work would also lead my colleagues and myself to the design and publication of two new articles: Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Toward Organ Donation and Transplantation Among Medical Students in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and A Multicenter Study to Determine Knowledge and Perceptions on Stem Cell Donation, Transplantation Among Saudi Medical Students, published in Transplantation Proceedings by Elsevier. These studies were designed not simply to collect quantitative data, but to enable future researchers to use valid data collection instruments developed and validated specifically for medical students. Moreover, these articles demonstrated how much work remains to be done by ethicists and medical educators to educate medical students about the principles of organ and stem cell donation and transplantation. In terms of impact, these two articles received over 30 citations and have been replicated in various settings, from India to Jordan. To this day, my colleagues and I continue to receive emails requesting the use of the data collection tool. This demonstrates that researchers and scholars around the world strive not only to use and cite specific papers but also to view these articles as valid and reliable sources of information for their own work—a fundamental value of ethical research.

In generating our hypothesis for Current state of ethical challenges reported in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review & bibliometric analysis from 2010 to 2021, my colleagues and I stated:

"To the authors’ knowledge, there are no previous studies aimed to systematically identify, compile, describe, and discuss ethical arguments and concepts in the best-studied domains of bioethics in Saudi Arabia and to present cultural, social, educational, and humane perspectives."

Indeed, this paper has become a pioneering paper that has created an encyclopedic body of knowledge and has had a significant impact, thus, benefiting public health, education, and the cultural context of bioethics, as well as contributing to the expansion of the academic knowledge base.

As a summer faculty member at Yale University, I perceive this work as a complex mechanism that illustrates the various ways knowledge is generated and utilized. I firmly believe that just as I developed this idea as a Yale student with the support of my professors, one of my future students will propose a similar innovative research idea. I will undoubtedly encourage them to persist and create work that ultimately becomes a success story for many researchers and, most importantly, enhances healthcare.

References

Woodman, A., Waheed, K. B., Rasheed, M., & Ahmad, S. (2022). Current state of ethical challenges reported in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review & bibliometric analysis from 2010 to 2021. BMC medical ethics, 23(1), 82. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-022-00816-6

Woodman, A., Al-Jamea, L. H., Zahrani, E. M. A., Elsafi, S. H., Waheed, K. B., Al-Yami, F. S., Qahtani, S. H., Quiambao, J. V., Jebakumar, A. Z., & Al-Attar, B. (2022). Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Toward Organ Donation and Transplantation Among Medical Students in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Transplantation proceedings, 54(7), 1690–1696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2022.05.034

Woodman, A., Elsafi, M. S., Zahrani, E. M. A., Jebakumar, A. Z., Quiambao, J. V., Maawadh, R. M., Aldossary, A. M., Alsakatawi, M. J., Alotaibi, Y. F., Algamdi, A. A., & Alfahad, O. A. (2023). A Multicenter Study to Determine Knowledge and Perceptions on Stem Cell Donation, Transplantation Among Saudi Medical Students. Transplantation proceedings, 55(9), 2009–2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2023.08.009