Neurosurgical publications in European journals

The number of papers published in European neurosurgical journals during the last decade (1980-90) was analysed using online databases. Thirteen journals devoted to neurosurgery were published in Europe at that time. In five of them neurosurgery appears together with other specialties. Almost 50% of all European neurosurgical journals are written in English. They published 68% of all papers by neurosurgeons appearing in the European neurosurgical journals during the last decade. Together with the American neurosurgical journals English was used in about 80% of all neurosurgical publications. Other languages used are German and French (9% each), Russian (5%), Czech or Slovak (4%), Polish (3%), Rumanian (2%). Most papers by European neurosurgeons originate from England, followed by Germany, France, Italy and Sweden. Of the East-European countries Polish neurosurgeons contributed with 782 publications, followed by Czechoslovakia (568), Hungary (501), USSR (470) and East Germany (452). The proportion of papers published in neurosurgical journals by European neurosurgeons to those in the journals devoted to other neurosciences varied from 99% in the USSR to 12% in Austria with an average of 38%. Citation analysis indicates that only a few of the journals have a large impact on neurosurgical publications, while the others have a rather limited influence.