Scientific publications in critical care medicine journals from Chinese authors: a 10-year survey of the literature.
BACKGROUND
People of Chinese ethnicity are the largest population in the world. Critical care medicine in China is developing rapidly and has achieved great advances in recent 20 years. The research contribution in critical care medicine among Chinese individuals in the three major regions of China--Mainland (ML), Hong Kong (HK), and Taiwan (TW)--is unknown.


METHODS
Articles published in 18 journals on critical care medicine originating from ML, TW, and HK from 1999 to 2008 were retrieved from the PubMed database and Science Citation Index Expanded. Quantity and quality analyses were conducted for the total numbers of articles, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, impact factors (IF), citations, and articles published in high-impact journals.


RESULTS
There were 932 articles from ML (268), TW (506), and HK (158) from 1999 to 2008. The annual total numbers of articles of the three regions increased gradually from 1999 to 2008 (from 57 to 157). From 2002 onward, the number of articles published from ML exceeded that from HK, but TW still has the dominance in both annual and total number of articles published compared with ML and HK. The accumulated IF of articles from TW (1676.67) was higher than that from ML (708.25) and HK (449.51). TW had the highest average IF of 3.31 followed by HK of 2.85 and ML of 2.64. HK had the highest average citations of each article of 10.73, followed by TW of 6.74 and ML of 5.34. The Journal of Trauma was the most popular journal in the three regions.


CONCLUSIONS
The total numbers of articles in China increased markedly from 1999 to 2008. TW published the most number of articles, clinical trials, and randomised controlled trials among the three regions. The Journal of Trauma was the most popular journal in the three regions.
Li
Zhi
Z
Department of Anesthesiology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Liao
Zhuan
Z
Wu
Fei-Xiang
FX
Yang
Li-Qun
LQ
Sun
Yu-Ming
YM
Yu
Wei-Feng
WF
D002681:China; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005544:Forecasting; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D055811:Journal Impact Factor; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D011642:Publications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D013624:Taiwan; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000601:surgery*