European countries figure high in world cancer research league table
Three European countries figure among the world's top five in the number of scientific papers published on cancer, according to results of a study released on 23 October at the European cancer conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Italy (second), the UK (third) and France (fifth) all rank highly, together accounting for almost a quarter of all papers published. The USA came first, accounting for over 37 per cent of the total published papers in the study. Fourth, with just under seven per cent, was Japan. Dr Francesco Grossi, of the Italian university of Udine, claimed that in addition to having the highest number, the impact of US papers was found to be higher than European ones. The impact factor was worked out by gauging how many times a paper was referred to or cited after its publication. However, the most active cooperative international body was found to be the European organisation for the research and treatment of cancer. The study was conducted on a sample of 3,142 clinical oncology papers published by 25 countries in the period between 1995 and 1999. The papers, which reported on phase I, II and III studies, found that the USA had a higher proliferation of phase I study papers. 'The USA is currently the richest reservoir of biomedicine and biotechnology in the world. New compounds and new molecules emerging from the numerous US biopharmaceutical companies are first tested in US (phase I) trials,' said Dr Grossi. The study also indicated that countries which have a higher proportion of physicians, such as Italy, tend to have a higher number of papers published.