[Zoom on the excellence of biomedical research in France]

Among the key benchmarks in assessing research excellence is the production and recognition of scientific discoveries for innovation. Despite the growing use of bibliometric indicators for policy-making purposes, there is still no consensus concerning the appropriate measures of research excellence. In this study, we examine the performance of France in biomedical sciences using several ISI-based indicators. We focus on the results provided by these two selective indicators: the absolute numbers and proportion of papers published in the very high-impact journals (above 20) and in the 1 % of the most highly cited papers. Furthermore, we present the detailed analysis of the Top 1 % French biomedical articles. On this basis we identify the crucial fields, the most active centres per speciality and the networks and the degree of international collaboration resulting from different types of research. These results provide an objective demonstration that the French biomedical research meets with high international standards and contributes to the world core research.