Bibliography of Primary Care Research in Malaysia

 

This book contains a comprehensive publications of Malaysian primary care research published from 1966 to 2003. The publications range from clinical research, epidemiological studies, laboratory investigations to qualitative research.

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This bibliography includes articles published in indexed and non indexed journals, thesis, dissertations, monographs, reports, conference proceedings and abstracts - an extensive collection of primary care research. Whether you are primary care researchers, health care professionals, educationists, students or policymakers, we hope this book will help you understand the existing primary care research and development, as well as to serve as a catalyst for future research and advancement of the discipline.

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Primary care research in Malaysia is conducted in government health clinics, general practices and the community. Research articles that appeared in the indexed journals (e.g. Medical Journal of Malaysia, Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health) are acccessible via PubMed. However, many primary care research papers from developing countries are not indexed by PubMed1 because these papers were submitted to non-indexed journals. Furthermore, many local publications remained relatively unknown to the research community because they are published in the form of thesis, dissertations, monographs, reports or proceedings that are kept in university libraries, government institutions and professional societies.

Currently, there are limited records of research bibliographies in Malaysia. Lim KG’s Review of Diseases in Malaysia focused primarily on hospital based clinical problems. Two other collections of primary care research have been compiled in Malaysia. However, these bibliographies are far from comprehensive. Critical reviews of primary care research conducted in other countries provide a useful baseline for research development in primary care, but, this may not be relevant to Malaysia.

Primary care is a latecomer to medical research locally and the quality of research is highly variable. Therefore, it is imperative to have a comprehensive resource of primary care research, not only to keep track of the trend and scope of research, but, more importantly, to set direction for future primary care research that creates knowledge useful for clinical practice and for advancement of the discipline.