Greece: one of the thirty top-performing countries in all scientific fields?

W e are delighted that the Hellenic Journal of Cardiology is going to be indexed in MEDLINE. We congratulate the Editor-in-Chief, Professor P. Vardas, on his success. In this context, we considered the impact of Greek scientific research. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our country (population 10.6 million) ranked (considering all scientific fields) number 28 for papers (n=47,954) and number 28 for citations (n=242,237) among the 146 top-performing countries in the world during 1994-2004. The top 20 countries are listed in the table. The listing system includes any country participating in a publication; all countries are given equal weighting. One of the reasons for the relatively high ranking of our small country must be cooperation with scientists outside Greece. An example of this is the most cited (n=538) article, which includes an author from Greece. Furthermore, cooperation with Greek scientists who work abroad could have contributed to the overall ranking. We look forward to an even higher ranking for Greece. Undoubtedly, getting local journals listed in MEDLINE will help achieve this goal by making research conducted in Greece more widely available for citation. The Hellenic Journal of Cardiology will also facilitate even more collaboration between Greek researchers and their colleagues abroad. Finally, we hope that Greece will recognise the contribution of Greek researchers abroad. Greece: One of the Thirty Top-Performing Countries in All Scientific Fields?