Research Group on Bibliometrics
Between 2012 and 2016, the BioRegion of Catalonia produced a total of 38,169 scientific publications in the healthcare and life sciences arena (biomedicine), including original articles, summaries and conference proceedings or papers. This makes up 41.48% of all scientific production generated in Catalonia over this period.
The normalized impact of Catalan scientific publications in biomedicine was 15.7% above the global average (Relative Citation Index, RCI 1.157), meaning, as a whole, they were cited 15.7% more than documents of the same type published in the same journal and year (Table 2).
3.05% of the publications are among the most cited papers (Highly Cited Papers, HCP 1,165), three times what would be expected for their output volume (Relative Highly Cited Papers, RHCP 3.052) (Table 2).
The number of publications in the biomedical arena has nearly quadrupled in Catalonia over the past 20 years. The number of biomedical publications increased 3.78 times, from 2,145 to 8,117 documents per year between 1996 and 2016. In relative terms, the proportion of publications in biomedicine compared to total scientific production of Catalonia has dropped slightly due to growth observed in areas like the social sciences and engineering.
Research staff in Catalonia signed a total of 92,025 publications between 2012 and 2016, 41.5% of which were classified as biomedicine (38,169 documents). Over this period, scientific production as a whole was cited more than one million times, more than half of which (566,254 citations, 55.6% of the total) can be attributed to documents in biomedicine.
Catalan scientific production in biomedicine from 2012 to 2016 made up 1.19% of the worldwide total, 3.50% of that in Europe (EU 28), and 34.11% of that in Spain. Between 2012 and 2016, the United States, China, England, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, France, Australia and Spain (including Catalan production) were the top 10 countries on the global ranking by volume of biomedical publications. With 38,169 documents published in this field, Catalonia would be ranked 23rd in the world.
The table is given in descending order based on the Docs Biomed column. It can be re-organized by any of the columns by clicking on the headings to see those rankings.
As the fourth column of the table shows, the contribution each country makes to worldwide output in biomedicine varies widely: the figures, clearly influenced by the size of the country, range from 31.27% for the United States to 0.81% in Finland. To get rid of this distortion, we have divided the country’s percentage of documents in biomedicine by its percentage relative to the rest of the world in all sciences (column RPD6).
| % Country publications in biomedicine relative to total publications in all fields | |
| RPD= | |
| % Country publications in all fields relative to global production in all fields |
This quotient allows us to measure each country’s contribution to knowledge in biomedicine compared to that it makes to science in general, meaning the relative contribution to biomedical knowledge. By this indicator, Catalonia is ranked fifth in the world with 1.233, meaning it contributes 23.3% more to biomedical knowledge than it does to science in general. First on this ranking is the Netherlands, with 42.2%, followed by Denmark (39.0%), the United States (29.9%) and Sweden (24.8%).
Additionally, the impact of Catalan publications in biomedicine was 15.7% above the global average (RCI 1.157). Moreover, 1,165 of these publications were among the most cited (HCP) in the world in their respective fields, three times what would be expected for their production volume (Relative Highly Cited Papers, RHCP 3.052) (Table 2).
In Spain, Catalonia showed the greatest scientific production in general and in biomedicine for the 2012-2016 period, as can be seen in the table below (Table 2).
Also noteworthy is the highest international collaboration rate compared to other communities in Spain. As the right-hand column of the table shows, more than half (52.4%) of all Catalan publications in biomedicine involve collaboration with authors from other countries. This is the highest percentage in the country. This also coincides with the high number of European consortia in the H2020 program with Catalan members.
Regarding the weight of the biomedical production relative to total scientific production, it is slightly higher in Catalonia (41.5%) than in the Community of Madrid (38.3%).
The table is in order of the total documents in biomedicine but the ranking criteria can be changed by clicking on any of the headings.
The university and healthcare sectors (mainly health research institutes and hospitals) are the main sources of the scientific publications in Catalonia in all disciplines. It is worth noting that one article may be classified in two or more categories, given the collaborations among authors and researchers with multiple affiliations.
If we look specifically at output in biomedicine, between 2012 and 2016, 64.5% of the Catalan publications in this arena (24,631) included at least one hospital or associated organization among the authors, and 28.8% (10,996) were signed by a university or associated organization.
The non-profit organizations generate the most excellence among Catalan publications in biomedicine (RHCP 4.641) with an RCI of 1.159 (Table 3). Within this sector the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), showed an excellence rate six times higher than expected by output volume (RHCP 6.237).
The highest impact, however, was achieved by the publications in the Catalan healthcare sector, where the impact of healthcare research institutes and hospitals were 20.3% above the global average (RCI 1.203) with excellence rates 3.6 times higher than that expected by volume of production (RHCP 3.556).
The impact of the publications singed by research centers and universities was also above the global average, roughly 14% higher in both cases. The excellence rate of these two sectors was also three times higher than expected, with RHCP of 3.429 and 2.712 respectively.
Regarding the percentage of international collaboration, meaning publications that involve collaboration with authors from other countries, research centers are 10 points above the university or healthcare sectors (61%, 50% and 49%, respectively).
Healthcare research institutes and hospitals were the most active in biomedical output in the healthcare sector, a fact that reinforces the excellence of the Catalan healthcare system and the tandem of healthcare research institutes and hospitals. Moreover, their impact and excellence indicators are greater than those of the biomedical sector as a whole.
Noteworthy in this regard are the tandem Hospital Clínic, with 7,611 documents and an RHCP excellence index of 4.493, and the healthcare research institutes, IDIBAPS: 7,948 documents and RHCP 4.441. Also, the Vall d’Hebron Hospital also stands out with 4,161 documents and RHCP of 4.494, with the VHIR: 4,395 documents and RHCP 4.619. In terms of RHCP, VHIO stands out at 10.286 (with 525 documents).
Regarding universities, the volume and impact of the output in biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (UB) is noteworthy, with 13,146 documents, as is that of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) with 8,568 documents, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) with 3,694 documents, University of Girona (UdG) and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) with just over 1,000 publications.
For public research centers, the stand-outs are the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and ISGlobal, with 1,379 and 1,369 publications, respectively. Both have a noteworthy RHCP index: ICO, 4.859 and ISGlobal, 3.506. It is also worth noting the RHCP of the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG): 6.192. Plus, as mentioned previously, the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) stands out with 1,956 documents and RHCP of 6.237.
Regarding company output (1,033 documents), although the number of articles is more modest and the impact varies widely, the businesses that stand out are Clarivate Analytics, Laboratoris Almirall, Novartis, CETIR Grup Mèdic, Pangaea Biotech and Laboratoris Esteve. Of these, the impact and excellence indicators for Pangaea Biotech are particularly noteworthy, with RCI of 1.726 and RHCP of 6.522.
This table shows the full bibliometric indicators. Click on the sector or subsector for a more in-depth analysis.
Collaborations involving multiple sectors are very common in the Catalan scientific publications, particularly between the university and healthcare sectors, given their historical ties and the large volume of publications they generate in collaboration/together. Collaborations involving organizations from the healthcare sector and research centers were consolidated between 2002 and 2006, coinciding with the creation of both healthcare research institutes and research centers.
Over this period, collaborations with universities and research centers were also strengthened. From 2007, collaborations involving the healthcare sector and research centers, as well as universities and research centers, grew more than traditional collaborations involving the healthcare sector and universities in relative terms, although they resulted in fewer publications.
Clinical medicine was the main area of activity in biomedicine in Catalonia: 7 in 10 publications from this period are classified in this field, while Biology and Biochemistry, with 2 in 10 publications, ranked second. It is worth noting that one article may be classified in two or more categories, given the transversal nature of the topics covered in the documents.
As table 4 shows, Clinical medicine also had the highest average normalized impact or RCI (1.194) and the largest number of highly cited papers or HCP (880), although Neuroscience and Behavior had the highest RHCP (3.439) and Molecular biology and Genetics had the highest percentage of international collaborations (60.8%) in Catalan biomedicine.
Biochemistry and Molecular biology, Oncology and Neuroscience were the most active specializations, with a joint total of 8,550 publications.
In the field of Biochemistry and Molecular biology, the organizations with the most papers published were the University of Barcelona (UB), Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), as well as the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA). Noteworthy among research centers were the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona (IRB Barcelona). Regarding healthcare research institutes, the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) stands out. In this field, it is worth noting the excellence indicators of publications from the CRG, IDIBELL, ICREA and UPF (RHCP 7.524, 6.391, 5.455 and 5.310, respectively).
In Oncology, IDIBELL and the UB lead the ranking. In terms of healthcare research institutes and hospitals, the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR)/Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and IDIBAPS/Hospital Clínic stand out, in that order. Noteworthy here is the impact index of publications from Vall d’Hebron Hospital and the VHIR, as is their scientific excellence and that of Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS. Moreover, the excellence index of the VHIO (RHCP= 9.975) also stands out, although with fewer publications (401 documents).
Stand-outs in Neuroscience include the UB, UAB and UPF, as well as healthcare research institutes like IDIBAPS, IDIBELL and VHIR together with its associated hospitals. Also noteworthy is the scientific excellence indicator for UB (RHCP 3.544). Although with fewer articles, the ICREA RHCP stands out: 6.746.
The specializations that stand out for their high impact index and output over 1,000 documents are Respiratory System, General and Internal medicine, and Cardiology, with RCI 1.373, 1.341 and 1.336, respectively.
In Respiratory System, the organizations with the most publications (over 200 articles) include the UB and UAB, as well as Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS, Vall d’Hebron Hospital and VHIR.
If we look at General and Internal medicine, the organizations with the most publications (over 200 articles), those with the highest impact index, in addition to the UB and UAB are Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS, IIBSantPau and IDIBELL.
According to the same criteria, stand-outs in Cardiology, in addition to the UB and UAB, are Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS, IIBSantPau, Vall d’Hebron Hospital and VHIR, and Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
In terms of scientific excellence indicators, General and Internal medicine led the pack with RHCP of 12.218, followed by Gastroenterology and Hepatology (RHCP 5.422) and Oncology (RHCP 5.258) in terms of the proportion of publications among the top 1% most cited in the world. Oncology, once again, was one of the fields with the highest percentage of international collaborations (63.8%).
By RHCP index, the scientific excellence of other fields of medicine also stands out, with output over 1,000 documents. These include Genetics, with RHCP 4.267, where the role of universities and the level of international collaboration (69.4%) stand out, as well as Clinical neurology with RHCP 4.152.
If we look at General medicine, among the organizations with the highest production (over 200 articles), those with the highest excellence index are the UB and UAB, Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS, IIBSantPau and IDIBELL.
In the field of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, stand-outs among the organizations with the highest production (over 200 articles) include Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS, UB, UAB, Vall d’Hebron Hospital and VHIR.
Additionally, the fields with the most international collaboration are Tropical medicine and Parasitology, given their global nature. In these areas, the UB, ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic and IDIBAPS stand out.
The table of disciplines shows detailed figures for each specialization within the fields we’ve established in biomedicine. The table shows the full biometric indicators. Click on the field or discipline for a more in-depth analysis.
Over the five-year period from 1992 to 1996, 2 in 10 authors of Catalan publications in biomedicine were women (80% men, 20% women). However, from 2012 to 2016, the proportion of men to women was 65% - 35%, much more balanced than before, however growth in this area has stagnated in recent years. These percentages include all authors that sign a publication, without taking into account the signing order.
Below is a list of the 10 Catalan biomedical articles from 2011-2016 with the most citations according to data from the WOS as of the summer of 2017.
| Document | Cites 1 | |
| 1. | 4,734 | |
| 2. | 3,233 | |
| 3. | 3,065 | |
| 4. | 2,308 | |
| 5. | 2,046 | |
| 6. | 2,000 | |
| 7. | 1,906 | |
| 8. | 1,861 | |
| 9. | 1,611 | |
| 10. | 1,484 |
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