[Bibliometric analysis of neurosurgery publications in France]

Bibliometrics are methods used to quantitatively analyze the scientific literature. The application of bibliometrics in neurosurgery is emerging and has not yet been studied in the French neurosurgical community. In France, the most used statistical method is named SIGAPS; the scores are based on the position of the author and the impact factor of the journal. The SIGAPS score, which can be calculated for a research team or an individual, impacts the public financial support of university hospitals in France. We analyzed retrospectively the publication productivity and the SIGAPS score of university neurosurgery departments in France for the period 2009-2016. This was supplemented by a list of current academic research protocols granted by the Minister of Health. The SIGAPS score is higher in large university hospitals even though all teams are dedicated to publishing more in the traditional neurosurgery journals (Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery, World Neurosurgery, J Neuro-oncology, Neuro oncology, Eur Spine J). Of note, the national Neurochirurgie journal (publishing in French and English) is progressively improving its impact factor (0.8). The most common themes are functional neurosurgery, neuro-oncology and spine. There are 14 on-going national multicenter research programs, 4 of them focused on the health economics of treatment innovations. These data provide the most accurate available snapshot of the scholarly efforts of all the French university neurosurgery departments. It is based on a national statistics method (SIGAPS). For future evaluation, it should be combined with internationally available parameters such as the h-index and m-quotient. Publication productivity has broad implications for the success of both academic departments and individual faculty members and their financial support.