title: The joint cardiovascular research profile of the university medical centres in the Netherlands.
abstract: Biomedical scientific research in the Netherlands has a good reputation worldwide. Quantitatively, the university medical centres (UMCs) deliver about 40 % of the total number of scientific publications of this research. Analysis of the bibliometric output data of the UMCs shows that their research is highly cited. These output-based analyses also indicate the high impact of cardiovascular scientific research in these centres, illustrating the strength of this research in the Netherlands. A set of six joint national cardiovascular research topics selected by the UMCs can be recognised. At the top are heart failure, rhythm disorder research and atherosclerosis. National collaboration of top scientists in consortia in these three areas is successful in acquiring funding of large-scale programs. Our observations suggest that funding national consortia of experts focused on a few selected research topics may increase the international competitiveness of cardiovascular research in the Netherlands.
authors.affiliation: Dutch Heart Foundation, The Hague, the Netherlands. s.vanwelie@hartstichting.nl.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: van Welie
authors.affiliation: Centre for Science & Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centers, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Bouma
authors.affiliation: Dutch Heart Foundation, The Hague, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: A B M
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Klaassen
keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Cardiovascular research topics; International and national competitiveness