Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Future ethical implications and potential health consequences of nanotechnology research in Jordan: A scientometric analysis

Yazan Akkam, Moawiah Khatatbeh²

¹Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy; ²Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.

For correspondence:-

Accepted: 19 January 2021 Published: 28 February 2021

Citation: Akkam Y, Khatatbeh M. Future ethical implications and potential health consequences of nanotechnology research in Jordan: A scientometric analysis. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(2):425-431 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i2.29

© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the implanted legislation and regulations in Jordan, in order to minimize nanotechnology research-related health concerns.

Methods: In the first part, all nanotechnology published research in Scopus database and the Jordanian National Database for Researchers were mined. The growth in nanotechnology research was analyzed by calculating the relative growth rate (RGR), doubling time (DT), and compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Thereafter, the results were compared to global preferences. Furthermore, this research explored all possible factors that may influence decision-makers and health policies in Jordan.

Results: Data analysis showed that the quantity of nanotechnology research in Jordan is exponentially increasing with RGR (1.96), DT (0.37), and CAGR (33 %) very close to the figures obtained worldwide. The trend line analysis (R² = 0.9638) expected that more than 65 % of nanotechnology research will be produced within the next 5 years. Moreover, no legislation has been adapted in Jordan to regulate nanotechnology research and industry.

Conclusions: Adopting nanotechnology without having any corresponding legislation constitutes a violation of the ethical codes of research, and ignorance of public safety. Moreover, the research suggests a set of steps to organize the crafting of nanotechnology and research in Jordan, and other similar contexts in developing countries.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, Public health, Toxicity, Relative growth rate (RGR), Doubling time (DT), Compound annual growth rate (CAGR)