Worldwide research productivity in critical care medicine

INTRODUCTION The number of publications and the impact factor of journals are accepted estimates of the quantity and quality of research productivity. The objective of the present study was to assess the worldwide scientific contribution in the field of critical care medicine. METHOD All research studies published between 1995 and 2003 in medical journals that were listed in the 2003 Science Citation Index (SCI) of Journal Citation Reports under the subheading 'critical care' and also indexed in the PubMed database were reviewed in order to identify their geographical origin. RESULTS Of 22,976 critical care publications in 14 medical journals, 17,630 originated from Western Europe and the USA (76.7%). A significant increase in the number of publications originated from Western European countries during the last 5 years of the study period was noticed. Scientific publications in critical care medicine increased significantly (25%) from 1995 to 2003, which was accompanied by an increase in the impact factor of the corresponding journals (47.4%). Canada and Japan had the better performance, based on the impact factor of journals. CONCLUSION Significant scientific progress in critical care research took place during the period of study (1995-2003). Leaders of research productivity (in terms of absolute numbers) were Western Europe and the USA. Publications originating from Western European countries increased significantly in quantity and quality over the study period. Articles originating from Canada, Japan, and the USA had the highest mean impact factor. Canada was the leader in productivity when adjustments for gross domestic product and population were made.