Geography of clinical cancer research publications from 1995 to 1999

In this paper, we study the geography of publications in clinical cancer research from 1995 to 1999. A Medline search was performed to retrieve papers in clinical oncology reporting phase I, II and III studies published between 1995 and 1999. Only studies reporting antiblastic chemotherapy have been considered, either alone or in combination with other treatments. For each country, the total number of papers, the total Impact Factor (IF), and the mean IF were determined. Similar calculations were performed to compare the European Union versus North America. 3142 papers were identified. The United States ranks first by number of papers (37.7% share), followed by Italy (9.8%), the United Kingdom (8.5%) and Japan (6.9%). Investigators at European institutions published a higher number of papers compared with their North American colleagues (1362 versus 1288). Still the mean IF of North American papers is higher than the papers with a European address (3.54 versus 3.14). The majority of phase I studies were performed in North America, while most of phase III studies were performed in Europe. These results provide information on the geography of clinical cancer research worldwide, which may reflect the human and economic resources involved in this field.