An overview of rheumatological research in the European Union

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the distribution and scope of papers published by authors from the European Union (EU) in rheumatological journals and the impact of rheumatological research in the EU in comparison with that produced elsewhere. METHODS Papers published during the year 1995 in the 17 rheumatol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the rheumatic diseases 1998-11, Vol.57 (11), p.643-647
Main Authors: Mela, Giuseppe S, Cimmino, Marco A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arthritis
bibliometrics
Biological and medical sciences
Databases, Bibliographic
Diseases of the osteoarticular system
Editorials
Europe
European Union
Humans
Information Storage and Retrieval
Keywords
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous. Osteoarticular involvement in other diseases
Now and Then
Publishing - statistics & numerical data
Rheumatic diseases
Rheumatism
Rheumatology
Rheumatology - statistics & numerical data
United States
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Description
Summary:OBJECTIVES To evaluate the distribution and scope of papers published by authors from the European Union (EU) in rheumatological journals and the impact of rheumatological research in the EU in comparison with that produced elsewhere. METHODS Papers published during the year 1995 in the 17 rheumatological journals screened by ISI were considered. The journal impact factor (IF) was noted. All key words, both those reported by the authors and those attributed by ISI, were identified and their frequency was calculated using a special purpose program. RESULTS 2331 papers were published in the rheumatological literature during 1995. Of them, 1316 (56.5%) came from the EU (29.4% from the UK, 17.4% from France, 11.5% from Germany, and 10.8 % from Italy) and 544 (23.3%) from the USA. The mean IF of EU papers was approximately 2 in comparison with 3.5 for the USA and 2.4 for other countries. In 1995, 2680 key words attributed by the authors and 5651 attributed by ISI appeared in the rheumatological literature. Less than a quarter of them was cited more than twice. The leading key words were rheumatoid arthritis for diseases and methotrexate for drugs. CONCLUSIONS Bibliometric findings are useful to follow research trends. These data show the relevance of EU rheumatological research and the high scientific production of small countries. Dispersion of key words should be avoided and journal editors should promote their standardisation.
ISSN:0003-4967
1468-2060
DOI:10.1136/ard.57.11.643