International presence and impact of the UK biomedical research, 1989‐2000

Abstract

Purpose

To map UK biomedical research by analysing biomedical publications from authors with UK institutional affiliation and indexed in Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).

Design/methodology/approach

Bibliometric methods to assess the volume of research published, its impact and sources of funding of biomedical research in the UK are used. The analyses also include an examination of national and international collaboration, leading regions and institutions (by volume of output), types of research carried out and its potential impact factor. This was done for all of biomedicine and 32 selected sub‐fields. The data used span 12 years, allowing changes and developments over time to be tracked.

Findings

The UK's position as the second largest producer of biomedical research is under threat from Japan and Germany and other countries with traditionally weaker biomedical research base. Strength in malaria and asthma research and relative weakness in surgery and renal medicine is notable. The profile of UK biomedical research has changed significantly in the period analysed, with a doubling of the level of international collaboration, a significant increase in basic research papers and an increase in the potential impact of UK publications. A relative decrease of acknowledgement of UK Government funding was noted, as were increased acknowledgements to UK not‐for‐profit and international organisations.

Practical implications

Bibliometric analyses can provide reliable tools in mapping the development of scholarly disciplines which can be of use, as demonstrated in this paper, in research policy, as well as in domain analysis in information science, library collection development or publishing.

Originality/value

Apart from policy applications, bibliometric research of this type can provide valuable information about changes in the patterns of scholarly communication within a domain (areas of interest in sociology of science and information science) and inform collection development policies in libraries and information centres (by describing literatures: ageing and obsolescence, volume and impact).

Citation

Webster, B.M. (2005), "International presence and impact of the UK biomedical research, 1989‐2000", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 22-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012530510579057