Anaesthesiology research in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association

Abstract

Between 2001 and 2015, in the EU and EFTA countries, the number of publications increased, whereas the number of original articles decreased. Germany published most, but Denmark had most publications per anaesthesiologist and per capita, and also achieved the highest impact factor per article.

Publications by Scandinavian university Departments of Anaesthesiology from 2001 to 2015

“…Nevertheless, it was still higher than in Austria, Germany and Switzerland; first in 2001‐2005 (40% vs 33%) and also in 2006‐2010 (33% vs 28%, respectively). This marker is a valuable parameter of the priority of a department to “create” new knowledge, but the negative trend to a declining share is an alarming sign, and consistent with other recently published studies . On the other hand, it is interesting that 4 Finnish university Departments of Anaesthesiology lead this ranking with 2 smaller departments (Tampere and Turku) who even passed the 50%‐original‐articles threshold.…”

“…This study is the most sophisticated bibliometric analysis hitherto for Scandinavian university Departments of Anaesthesiology. The methodology has been used in recent studies . We recognize the difficulty experienced in comparing the research activity of different countries and departments due to varying legal requirements and resources.…”

“…Nonetheless, it is important not to forget all the surrounding circumstances, for example, the size and the work force of a department, which unfortunately are impossible to reconstruct and use as a denominator. Recently, Cools et al evaluated the performance of publications per capita and per anaesthesiologist in Europe, and demonstrated again the leading position of the Scandinavian countries.…”

“…In anaesthesiology, researchers noted a global downward trend in the number of publications. Most worrisome was a declining number of original articles . Some countries have already recognized the inadequate funding situation and started to reorganize their infrastructure to provide more resources …”

“…Worldwide, the small, affluent and seemingly better organized Scandinavian countries have often achieved some of the highest publication rates per capita when normalized to the population size. Previous studies have investigated the performance of these countries .…”