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Cancer research is an essential part of national cancer control programmes, and the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Russian Federation and Central Asia (R-CA) (Commonwealth of Independent States) remain relatively understudied. Here, we map the cancer research activity from the 29 countries across these regions over a 10-year period (2007-2016), using a standard scientometric approach. Research activity was compared with the countries' wealth and with the disease burden from different cancers, and analyses were also performed by the research domain (e.g. fundamental cancer biology, surgery). We found that although there was a correlation between outputs and national wealth, there were many outliers; the CEE countries publishing relatively more, and the R-CA, less. Outputs reflected cancer burdens, but there was a relative paucity of research on lung, colorectal, gastric and pancreatic cancer, as well as research domains such as screening and palliative care. Clinical trials accounted for only 3% of all research outputs from all countries, and were very international, with on average 1.5 CEE countries and 8.0 others involved in each article, and they were heavily cited (on average, 84 times in 5 years). Poland was by far the most research-active country, but significant needs and opportunities have been identified to expand the cancer research activity in all CEE and R-CA countries to enhance national cancer control planning., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Over the past 20 years, cancer research in India has grown in size and impact. Clinicians, scientists, and government and state policy makers in India have championed cancer research, from studies to achieve low-tech, large-scale health outcomes to some of the most advanced areas of fundamental cancer science. In this paper, we frame public policy discussions about cancer with use of an in-depth analysis of research publications from India. Cancer research in India is a complex environment that needs to balance public policy across many competing agendas. We identify major needs across these environments such as those for increased research capacity and training and protected time for clinical researchers; for more support from states and enhanced collaborative funding programmes from government; for development of national infrastructures across a range of domains (ie, clinical trials, tissue banking, registries, etc); and for a streamlined and rational regulatory environment. We also discuss improvements that should be made to translate research into improvements in cancer outcomes and public health., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The objective of this study was to perform an analysis of global cancer surgery research and development trends over the last 10 years across 21 countries., Background: Surgery is the main modality for cancer cure and control globally. Yet, in comparison to other areas such as cancer drugs, we know little about ongoing research activities to inform policymakers., Methods: Two subfield filters, surgery research and oncology, were developed and applied to Web of Science. The intersection of these 2 filters identified papers in surgical oncology, and their bibliographic details were downloaded for analysis. This included matching of 5-year citation counts to the papers, impact factor, geographical analysis by country, translational collaboration, involvement in clinical trials, citation on clinical guidelines, and percentage of reviews., Result: Surgical oncology represents about 9% of all cancer research-low in comparison with surgery's contribution to cancer treatment. The US published the most, followed by Japan which had a high relative commitment to surgery within cancer research, followed by the large West European countries. Although Sweden's papers were relatively basic, it participated the most in clinical trials. Its papers were also the most cited on clinical guidelines, but contained relatively few reviews, where the UK, Greece, and Belgium scored best. Surgical oncology papers are generally not well cited compared with cancer research overall, but on this measure the Netherlands, the US, and Sweden scored best. International collaboration was measured relative to what might have been expected, on this indicator Canada, Switzerland, and the US were the best performers., Conclusions: Globally, low activity-low funding cycle needs to be addressed by new national and supranational policies to support surgical oncology research.

With global spend on cancer research from the public sector now in excess of 14 billion euro, as well as the increasing burden of disease in market economies and low-middle income countries through changing demographics (ageing and population growth) cancer is now one of the most complex and global public policy issues. Using novel bibliometrics we have sought to investigate changes in research activity (total output), relative commitment and collaborations between countries/regions with similar healthcare and population and development parameters - United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Sweden - to assess the utility of this policy research approach by analysing two different cohorts (1995-1999 and 2000-2004) to study the impact of changes on research publications as a surrogate for overall research activity., (Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Our aim, within the collaborative study SPHERE (Strengthening Public Health Research in Europe), was to produce a bibliometric overview of public health research literature for Europe., Methods: A search strategy ('filter') was designed to interrogate the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) databases for research articles published between 01/01/1995 and 31/12/2004 in any language. We analysed output for country by population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), burden of disease using DALYs, and language., Results: Overlap between the two databases SCI and SSCI was 35%. 210,433 publications were identified after duplicates were removed, a world total of about 20,000 per year. Approximately 7,000 papers per year were produced in Europe and 9,400 by the USA. Thirteen of 28 individual European countries produced more than 100 public health papers per year. Publications per capita were highest in northern European countries. In multiple regression analyses, GDP was a modest predictor (r(2) = 0.53, P < 0.02) of publications for European countries, while population size and disability adjusted life years were not significantly related. Smaller countries and lower producers of public health research were more likely to collaborate with other countries. Of the publications, 3.5% were published in a non-English language, with German the most common., Conclusion: There is marked variation in public health publication by country in Europe. Eastern and southern European countries appear to under-invest in public health research compared with northern European countries and compared to relative health need.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine the international commitment to alcohol-related research relative to its global burden of disease, which is 4% of disability adjusted life years (DALYs)., Methods: The worldwide literature indexed in the Science Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index during 1992-2003 was analysed using advanced bibliometric techniques., Results: Biomedical research and the global disease burden due to alcohol both increased during 1992-2003, whilst the number of papers from alcohol-related research remained static and declined to <0.7% of all biomedical research literature. Nearly 58% of all alcohol-related research papers were from Canada and the United States, 30% from Western Europe, and 10% from Australia, New Zealand, or Japan. However, these regions suffer only 13% of the global burden of disease due to alcohol; meanwhile, the rest of the world contributed only 8% of the total research whilst suffering from 87% of the disease burden. The estimated annual expenditure on alcohol-related research in 2001 was 730 million dollars, or about 12 dollars per DALY due to alcohol., Conclusions: The global commitment to alcohol-related research is only one-sixth of that warranted by the burden of disease due to alcohol. Most such research is conducted in the developed world but is still less than that appropriate to the regional burden of disease. There is a need for more interest in alcohol-related research in the developing world, particularly in Latin America and Eastern Europe in view of their high burden of disease due to alcohol.

Background: There has been a steady growth in recent years in British higher-degree training in speech and language therapy. But what is the standing of UK research in the subject and its component areas which should underpin and inform such training? How can such research be evaluated?, Aims: The intention was to compare UK publications relevant to speech and language therapy with those of other countries, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We sought then to examine the UK papers in more detail to analyse their sources of funding, their geographical distribution and the ways in which they could appropriately be evaluated., Methods & Procedures: Papers were selectively retrieved from the Science Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index for 1991-2000 by means of a filter based on journal names and paper title words. They were subsequently checked to remove many false positives. The papers were classified into one of seven subject areas and by their research level (from clinical to basic). Their importance was estimated through their potential impact on other researchers, as determined by the citation score of their journals, by the numbers of citations they actually received and by the subjective esteem in which the various journals were held by UK speech and language researchers., Outcomes & Results: World output of speech and language therapy papers has averaged 1000 papers per year during the 1990s, and has grown by half over the period. UK output has been about 12% of the total, compared with 10% in biomedicine, and is published in high impact journals relative to the norm for the field, which is quite a low rate compared with biomedicine overall. Almost half the UK papers had no funding acknowledgements, with the private-non-profit and industrial sectors playing less of a role than in other biomedical areas. Papers in seven subject areas showed substantial differences in their performance on the four criteria selected., Conclusions: The state of British speech and language research appears to be satisfactory, with an above average output in both quantity and quality. However, it is not attracting funding from some types of sponsors and is not being published in general medical journals where it might have a wider influence on general clinical practice. It is also not clear how best such research can be evaluated, although conventional citation counts may be relevant for some subject areas.

Objective: To compare the outputs of Scottish PC research with the rest of the UK., Design: Bibliometric analysis of the research level and potential impact of research publications. Papers are categorised by level (RL) from basic research to clinical observation and potential impact category (PIC), a 5 year impact factor on a numerical scale., Setting: Interrogation of the Wellcome Trust's Research Outputs Database 1988-97., Subjects: 17,303 papers, 2,280 arising from Scottish primary care., Results: Scottish primary care publications totalled 14% of the published research in the UK during 1988, by 1997 it had fallen to 10%. PC researchers in the rest of the UK produced a 60% increase (1169 to 1866 per annum) in publications compared to our 25% increase (201 to 251 per annum) over the same period. Scottish papers were less likely to be presenting basic science. The mean potential impact was slightly lower than the rest of the UK (1.89 compared to 1.94, s.e.m.0.02)., Conclusion: Scottish PC research outputs grew more slowly than the rest of the UK during 1988-97. The research interests and journals selected by the research community contributed to this pattern. The climate, infrastructure and skills required for more effective PC research during this period were also significant factors. The Scottish School of Primary Care provides a mechanism for everyone in NHSScotland and Higher Education Institutions to address the underlying issues identified in this analysis. As a 'baseline' analysis, this report will allow progress to be monitored as the SSPC becomes increasingly effective.

Aims: To examine the volume and potential impact of gastroenterology research outputs from 1985 to 1998 from 14 developed countries; the overlap with research in cancer, infectious diseases, and genetics; and the funding sources for this research. To determine if countries' research outputs correlated with their burden of corresponding diseases and inputs to their research., Methods: Selective retrieval of papers from the Science Citation Index and manual look up of a sample to determine funding sources. Classification of journals by four categories of research level (clinical/basic) and potential impact (low/high)., Results: Gastroenterology represents about 8% of world biomedical research but over 11% in Italy, Japan, and Spain. Its potential impact is highest (but declining) for the USA. It has increased noticeably in most European countries, particularly in Finland. Gastroenterology research has become more clinical in Japan, Spain, Australia, and the Netherlands but more basic in Canada, Germany, Finland, Israel, and South Africa. Funding comes primarily from national governments, followed by national private non-profit sources and industry but little industrial funding occurs in some countries. There is a strong and positive correlation between reported deaths from gastrointestinal neoplasms and countries' outputs of research in gastrointestinal oncology., Conclusions: Bibliometric analysis can reveal differences between countries in their research in a subject when a common methodology is applied to an international database. Variations in research methods in different countries can plausibly explain some of the variation in the potential impact of the work.

This study uses bibliometric methods to evaluate the magnitude and quality of publications in arthritis research in the UK and compare this with that of other countries. Arthritis research was defined by publication in a specialist journal or by specific title key words or address. Outputs from 13 countries between 1988 and 1995 were analysed by number, research level (from clinical to basic) and potential impact on other researchers (from low to high). The UK has a strong presence in arthritis research and the highest relative commitment of all the countries studied. UK output was more clinical than that of other countries, except Spain, and was of relatively high impact. A second study examined UK arthritis papers supported by different funding sources, including government, private-non-profit and industry. Papers with funding acknowledgements were of significantly higher impact and less clinical than those without. The Arthritis Research Campaign was the leading funder in the UK with high-impact papers which, over the 8 yr period, have become more clinical than those supported by other funding sources, except hospital trusts.

BackgroundWhile the media may significantly influence public attitudes and government policies affecting the research agenda, how mental health research is reported in the media has been virtually unstudied. The aim of this study was to examine stories concerning mental health research published on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website between 1999 and 2008 and in New Scientist between 2008 and 2010.MethodStories were retrieved from on-line archives. Story content was coded and assessed against: ‘disease burden’ of mental disorders; the general corpus of research papers in mental health and the countries from which they originated; the journals in which cited papers were published; and funding sources.ResultsA total of 1015 BBC stories reporting mental health research and 133 New Scientist stories were found. The distribution of stories did not reflect ‘disease burden’; research on dementia was over-represented, while depression and alcohol were under-represented. There was an emphasis on biological research while stories on psychological interventions were rare. UK research was over-represented. Research funded by government and private non-profit sources was over-represented. Commentators from Alzheimer's Disease charities were prominent.ConclusionsConsideration of reported stories may suggest approaches to working with the media to improve the public understanding of, and support for, mental health research. The role of commentators may be especially important. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined cancer research stories on the BBC web archive (July 1998-June 2006). There were about 260 BBC stories per year, of which about 170 were classed as relevant to reports of cancer research. The stories focused heavily on breast cancer, and over one-third of them mentioned this (compared with a cancer disease burden of 13%); the next most covered sites were lung and prostate cancers, although the former was much less mentioned than its cancer disease burden of almost 20% would have suggested. The focus of the stories was often on new or improved drugs or vaccines (20% of stories), with lifestyle choices (12%), genetic developments (9%), and food and drink (8%) also featuring fairly prominently. The BBC stories cited about 1380 research papers that could be identified as journal articles. About three-quarters of the cited papers were in the field of cancer. The papers of these authors came from over 60 countries, and 40% were from the United Kingdom and 36% from the United States. UK cancer research was heavily overcited, by about 6:1, relative to its presence in world oncology research and US research was cited about in proportion. That of most other countries, especially Japan, Germany, and Austria, was relatively undercited. These cited papers also acknowledged more funding bodies. Most of the BBC stories were put in context by external commentators, of whom the large majority was from the UK's cancer research charities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a substantially increased interest in biomedical research impact assessment over the past 5 years. This can be studied by a number of methods, but its influence on clinical guidelines must rank as one of the most important. In cancer, there are 43 UK guidelines (and associated Health Technology Assessments) published (up to October 2006) across three series, each of which has an evidence base in the form of references, many of which are papers in peer-reviewed journals. These have all been identified and analysed to determine their geographical provenance and type of research, in comparison with overall oncology research published in the peak years of guideline references (1999-2001). The UK papers were cited nearly three times as frequently as would have been expected from their presence in world oncology research (6.5%). Within the United Kingdom, Edinburgh and Glasgow stood out for their unexpectedly high contributions to the guidelines' scientific base. The cited papers from the United Kingdom acknowledged much more explicit funding from all sectors than did the UK cancer research papers at the same research level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Poor mental health is the largest single source of disability in the UK, and co-morbid health problems, particularly with cancer, raise total health care costs significantly. Methods This study examined what research is being conducted into the intersection between cancer and mental health. Research papers captured by the intersection of sub-field filters—‘mental disorder’ and ‘cancer’—were studied from the Web of Science over a 10-year period (2002–2011). Results There were 1463 papers dealing with the dual presence of cancer and mental disorder. They amounted to 0.26% of cancer research and 0.51% of mental health research over the 10-year period, indicating that their intersection receives little research attention. Eighty per cent of papers were concerned with the effects of cancer on mental health rather than the reverse; a few (5%) looked at the post-traumatic stress suffered by carers of cancer patients. Of cancer types, breast dominated (21%), followed by prostate (5%), lung (3%), oral (2%) and colorectal (2%) cancer. The area of mental health most studied in cancer was unipolar depression. Conclusions The paucity of research that exists at the intersection of cancer and mental health requires attention from policymakers and funders in order to address an important trans-disciplinary gap in health care research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]