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Canada
Tops in Cancer Research
Excerpt
By
Emma Ross, Associated Press
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - American
scientists conduct more than a third of the world's research on
cancer treatment, but Canada, the Netherlands, Britain and Australia
are doing it better, new research suggests.
A first-of-its-kind table ranks each country according to the
impact of the cancer research produced between 1995 and 1999,
based on the scientific papers its scientists produced.
The analysis, presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Federation
of European Cancer Societies, was based on an Internet search
of medical journals that retrieved records of experimental trials
on chemotherapy alone or drug therapy combined with other treatment.
On volume alone, the United States led the world, followed by
Italy, Britain, Japan, France and Germany.
However, with regard to impact, American scientists placed fifth,
closely followed by Finland, Israel, France, Austria, Yugoslavia,
Sweden and Belgium. Canada topped the list, followed by the Netherlands,
Britain and Australia.
The investigator, Dr. Francesco Grossi of the National Institute
for Research on Cancer in Genoa, Italy, said the rankings do not
mean the United States produces fifth-rate research, but that
the proportion of its total output that is influential is lower
than that of the countries that ranked above it.
One explanation for that was offered by Dr. Davide Mauri, a
cancer researcher at St. Savvas Hospital in Athens.
``The Americans produce a lot of papers. They need to publish
a lot to keep getting research money or jobs and it is very competitive
to get into the top journals,'' Mauri said. ``They may be publishing
in newer journals that are not so prestigious because it's quicker
and easier.''
Dr. Mark Thomas, a cancer specialist in Columbus, Ohio, said
publishing in lesser-known journals was often part of the process
of establishing a reputation in research.
``There are a huge number of research papers produced and they
can't all be published in the top journals,'' Thomas said. ``If
you are a young faculty member and you don't have the experience
and reputation to get published in the best journals, (publishing
in less prestigious journals) is part of the process of becoming
recognized.''
Grossi measured impact, or influence and importance of the findings
of a nation's research, by the prestige of the journal it appeared
in - the gold standard indicator of quality.
Every medical journal has a so-called ``impact factor'' score,
assigned by the International Standards Institute, which recalculates
the rankings every year. The score is based on how often articles
from a particular journal are cited in research papers published
within the subsequent two years. The more citations, the higher
the ``impact factor'' score. Those journals with the highest scores
are regarded as the most prestigious.
``I think this is good. They are trying for the first time to
develop a classification and it's quite a good index, but I don't
think it's the best,'' Mauri said.
Mauri speculated that the rankings may have come out differently
if they were based on another measure of quality, called the ``immediacy
index,'' which measures how quickly research is cited by others.
That method tracks the number of times an article is cited in
subsequent studies within a year.
``It indicates who is involved in hot areas of research. Everybody
is looking to you; you are the guideline,'' Mauri said.
On the Net:
European Cancer Conference, http://www.fecs.be/Conferences/ecco11/index.shtml
International Standards Institute, http://www.isinet.com
Reference
Source 102
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