Glanville et al. Research output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States: bibliometric analysis. BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL 342: art. no.-d1028

[Eugene Garfield]

Glanville, J; Kendrick, T; McNally, R; Campbell, J; Hobbs, FDR. 2011. Research 
output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the 
United Kingdom, and the United States: bibliometric analysis. BRITISH MEDICAL 
JOURNAL 342: art. no.-d1028..

Author Full Name(s): Glanville, Julie; Kendrick, Tony; McNally, Rosalind; 
Campbell, John; Hobbs, F. D. Richard
Language: English
Document Type: Article

Abstract: Objective To compare the volume and quality of original research in 
primary care published by researchers from primary care in the United Kingdom 
against five countries with well established academic primary care.
Design Bibliometric analysis.
Setting United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the 
Netherlands.
Studies reviewed Research publications relevant to comprehensive primary care 
and authored by researchers from primary care, recorded in Medline and 
Embase, with publication dates 2001-7 inclusive.
Main outcome measures Volume of published activity of generalist primary care 
researchers and the quality of the research output by those publishing the 
most using citation metrics: numbers of cited papers, proportion of cited 
papers, and mean citation scores.
Results 82 169 papers published between 2001 and 2007 in the six countries 
were classified as research on primary care. In a 15% pragmatic random sample 
of these records, 40% of research on primary care from the United Kingdom and 
46% from the Netherlands was authored by researchers employed in a primary 
care setting or employed in academic departments of primary care. The 141 
researchers with the highest volume of publications reporting research findings 
published between 2001 and 2007 (inclusive) authored or part authored 8.3% 
of the total sample of papers. For authors with the highest proportion of 
publications cited at least five times, the best performers came from the United 
States (n=5), United Kingdom (n=4), and the Netherlands (n=2). In the top 10 
of authors with the highest proportions of publications achieving 20 or more 
citations, six were from the United Kingdom and four from the United States. 
The mean Hirsch index (measure of a researcher's productivity and impact of 
the published work) was 14 for the Netherlands, 13 for the United Kingdom, 12 
for the United States, 7 for Canada, 4 for Australia, and 3 for Germany.
Conclusion This international comparison of the volume and citation rates of 
papers by researchers from primary care consistently placed UK researchers 
among the best performers internationally.

Addresses: [Hobbs, F. D. Richard] Univ Birmingham, Dept Primary Care Clin Sci, 
Birmingham B15 2TT, W Midlands, England; [Glanville, Julie] Univ York, York Hlth 
Econ Consortium, York YO10 5DD, N Yorkshire, England; [Kendrick, Tony] Univ 
Southampton, Dept Primary Care, Southampton SO9 5NH, Hants, England; 
[McNally, Rosalind] Univ Manchester, Natl Primary Care Res & Dev Ctr, 
Manchester M13 9PL, Lancs, England

Reprint Address: Hobbs, FDR, Univ Birmingham, Dept Primary Care Clin Sci, 
Primary Care Clin Sci Bldg, Birmingham B15 2TT, W Midlands, England.
E-mail Address: f.d.r.hobbs at bham.ac.uk
ISSN: 0959-535X
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d1028
fulltext: http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.d1028.full