Bibliometric analysis of HRC-supported biomedical publications, 1990 to 1994

To document changes in the rate and impact of publications resulting from Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) biomedical grants since its inception and to relate the number of publications to Health Priority Areas, fields of research and specific types of grant.

All original papers or reviews and editorials published by HRC-supported investigators in peer-refereed journals, from 1990 to 1994, were entered into a bibliographic database.

In this five-year period, researchers receiving HRC biomedical grants published a total of 2094 articles in 623 peer-reviewed journals, of which 1190 (57%) derived from HRC support. Of the publications, 90.2% were original papers; the remainder were reviews or editorials. From 1990 to 1994, there was an increase in the number of HRC-supported publications (p<0.04) but not of those deriving from other support. There was no change in the quality of publications over this period, as reflected by the impact factor (a measure of the number of times that publications in a journal are cited). The majority (62.6%) of publications derived from project grants, however, the average cost per publication was 8.4% higher for project than for programme (multi-investigator) grants. Finally, nearly 40% of HRC publications directly addressed designated health priority areas.

The present study has examined one aspect of the value for money obtained from the public investment in biomedical research. As the HRC is the major provider of contestable biomedical research funding in New Zealand, bibliometric analysis may be of ongoing value to monitor the effects of changes to the organisation of biomedical research funding in New Zealand.