Examining Islamic Perspectives in Medical Imaging Literature: A Study Involving Scopus Indexed Journals

This paper examines the incidence and themes of articles published in SCOPUS indexed journals that are related to Medical Imaging or Radiography and are written from Islamic perspectives. An initial search was conducted by using selected Islamic keywords to identify articles that have those words either in the title, abstract or keywords list. Only 6 articles out of a possible 341 000 were found; and the “Islamic perspectives” addressed in those articles were not those of the authors, but pertained rather to Muslims as subjects of the authors’ studies. This paper postulates a number of possible factors contributing to the low number of articles written from Islamic perspectives. Among them are: (1) Western domination of the publication of articles in journals; and (2) the inability of Muslim Medical Imaging professionals to integrate Islamic perspectives into their scientific writings. Recommendations to improve the situation are made in this paper. This study could act as a catalyst for Muslim Medical Imaging professionals to reassess objectively their personal, professional and religious roles and functions in the international discourse on their specialised field of knowledge.