Background Road Traffic Injuries are a leading cause of death, hospitalization, disability in the South-East Asia Region. Road safety research needs to focus on the five pillars of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020.

Objectives To review studies conducted in South East Asia countries to identify gaps in research and recommend further needed actions to improve road safety research in the region.

Methods A comprehensive search of publications in the South East Asian countries related to road safety was conducted during 2008–2016 through Safetylit database.

Results 300 studies were conducted accounting for 3% of global road safety research. More than 1/2 of studies were carried out in India followed by Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, Maldives and Myanmar while three countries have not published any research. Furthermore, more than 1/2 of publications focused on either burden or risk factors while studies on policies and laws formed only 18%, followed by infrastructure, awareness and knowledge, post-crash response, vehicle safety and evaluation studies. Only 12% of studies focused on key risk factors recommended by WHO. The studies identified that 2/3 wheeled vehicles, road safety among children and pedestrians are of focus. 13% of studies identified that under-reporting of road traffic crash data systems and a required strengthening.

Conclusions and recommendations Road Safety Research need to be more comprehensive and to focus on all 5 pillars of Decade of Action for Road Safety. Research networking is required between the region countries. Keywords: road safety, research, epidemiology, policy, laws, vehicles, post-crash response, infrastructure, evaluation.