An analysis of trends in globalisation of origin of research published in major general medical journals

Introduction: There is an ongoing discussion in the scientific community that even the leading scientific journals publish mainly research that is produced in the countries where these journals are based.

Methods: We analysed data regarding the origin of publications in 11 leading general medical journals during the last 35 years: The Lancet, British Medical Journal, Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine, American Journal of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Medical Journal of Australia and Journal of Internal Medicine (previously called Acta Medica Scandinavica).

Results: Among the examined journals, The Lancet has been the most diverse regarding the origin of publications; in the period 1971–1975, 62.6% of its publications originated from the UK while the relevant figure dropped to 43.2% in the period 2001–2005 (19.4% decrease). During the period 2000–2005, the proportion of publications that originated from the country in which each one of the rest of the examined journals has been based ranged from 71.7% to 95.1%. This figure decreased by a proportion ranging from 10.9% to 19.4% for some major US- and UK-based medical journals during the 35-year study period.

Discussion: Our own interpretation of the findings of this study is that scientific journals will better serve the global scientific community as well as the public by adopting policies that increase the mixture of the origin of research that they publish, including work from scientists in developing countries, especially during the era we live.