The proliferation of medical papers in several countries after discoveries in cardiology.
The numbers of papers on the Medline database concerning seven innovations in cardiology in the last 20 years were ascertained by year from the time of their discovery until the present. They were further divided into three geographical regions. The proliferation of papers in medical journals regarding new discoveries is initially exponential, with a plateau phase which is unrelated in magnitude to the constants in the model for the exponential phase. The magnitude of the plateau phase in the case of drugs is related to the number of indications for use of the drug. The proliferation of papers on a particular subject in English journals lags behind journals from the United States of America and the rest of the world. Eventually there are a larger number of papers published per year, per head of the population or per doctor in England than in the U.S.A. Current computer databases are not satisfactory for research audit. The department within an institution and an assessment of the quality of the research should be available.
Horner
S M
SM
Department of Respiratory Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, London, U.K.
D002309:Cardiology / Q000639:trends*; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004739:England; D008523:MEDLARS; D011643:Publishing / Q000639:trends*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012106:Research; D014481:United States