Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 May 6;332(7549):1061-4.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.38768.420139.80. Epub 2006 Mar 17.

Origin and funding of the most frequently cited papers in medicine: database analysis

Nikolaos A Patsopoulos  1 , John P A Ioannidis, Apostolos A Analatos
Affiliations

Origin and funding of the most frequently cited papers in medicine: database analysis

Nikolaos A Patsopoulos et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate changes in the role of academics and the sources of funding for the medical research cited most frequently over the past decade.

Design: Database analysis.

Data sources: Web of Knowledge database.

Methods: For each year from 1994 to 2003, articles in the domain of clinical medicine that had been cited most often by the end of 2004 were identified. Changes in authors' affiliations and funding sources were evaluated.

Results: Of the 289 frequently cited articles, most had at least one author with a university (76%) or hospital (57%) affiliation, and the proportion of articles with each type of affiliation was constant over time. Government or public funding was most common (60% of articles), followed by industry (36%). The proportion of most frequently cited articles funded by industry increased over time (odds ratio 1.17 per year, P = 0.001) and was equal to the proportion funded by government or public sources by 2001. 65 of the 77 most cited randomised controlled trials received funding from industry, and the proportion increased significantly over time (odds ratio 1.59 per year, P = 0.003). 18 of the 32 most cited trials published after 1999 were funded by industry alone.

Conclusion: Academic affiliations remain prominent among the authors of the most frequently cited medical research. Such research is increasingly funded by industry, often exclusively so. Academics may be losing control of the clinical research agenda.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Proportion of most frequently cited articles published each year according to authors' affiliations. Studies with more than one category of affiliations are counted in all relevant categories
Fig 2
Fig 2
Proportion of frequently cited articles published each year according to sources of funding. Studies with funding from diverse categories of support are counted in all relevant categories
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Clark J, Tugwell P. Who cares about academic medicine? BMJ 2004;329: 751-2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. International Working Party to Promote and Revitalise Academic Medicine. ICRAM (the International Campaign to Revitalise Academic Medicine): agenda setting. BMJ 2004;329: 787-9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. International Working Party to Promote and Revitalise Academic Medicine. Academic medicine: the evidence base. BMJ 2004;329: 789-92. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Crowley WF Jr, Sherwood L, Salber P, Scheinberg D, Slavkin H, Tilson H, et al. Clinical research in the United States at a crossroads: proposal for a novel public-private partnership to establish a national clinical research enterprise. JAMA 2004;291: 1120-6. - PubMed
    1. Johns MM, Barnes M, Florencio PS. Restoring balance to industry-academia relationships in an era of institutional financial conflicts of interest: promoting research while maintaining trust. JAMA 2003;289: 741-6. - PubMed

MeSH terms