Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Athens, Greece.
Med Sci Monit. 2009 Dec;15(12):SR15-21.
China is one of the most rapidly developing countries with a huge population spreading on a chaotic area. For centuries Chinese medicine was based on tradition, religion and experience. However, the last two decades under the pressure of globalization Chinese medicine is turning gradually to evidence-based medicine, contributing in international biomedical research.
MATERIAL/METHODS: A bibliometric analysis through the ISI Web of Knowledge was performed. We collected data regarding the amount of Chinese publications in different biomedical fields, the presence of Chinese authors in high impact international journals, the contribution of China's universities in research and finally the number and the quality of local Chinese journals, which have entered the ISI database.
According to ISI database a significant increase occurred in both the quantity and quality of the Chinese biomedical publishing activity. This was indicated by the major rise in the amount of published papers, the average augmentation of citations per paper and the constantly increasing presence of Chinese researchers in top medical journals. Chinese institutions appeared also more productive and local journals gained more representation in the ISI database.
China's contribution in biomedical research really blossomed after 1990 and especially after 2000. The extent of this contribution may not be proportional to the total research activity performed in China, but it is this part of knowledge that becomes exported and interacts with the rest of the international research activity, promoting research potential in biomedicine.
中国是发展最快的国家之一，人口众多，分布广泛。几个世纪以来，中医药一直基于传统、宗教和经验。然而，在过去的二十年里，迫于全球化的压力，中医药逐渐转向循证医学，为国际生物医学研究做出贡献。
材料/方法：通过 ISI Web of Knowledge 进行了文献计量分析。我们收集了不同生物医学领域中国出版物数量、中国作者在高影响力国际期刊中的存在情况、中国大学在研究中的贡献以及最后进入 ISI 数据库的本地中文期刊的数量和质量的数据。
根据 ISI 数据库，中国生物医学出版活动的数量和质量都有显著增加。这表现在发表论文数量的大幅增加、每篇论文引文的平均增长以及中国研究人员在顶级医学期刊中的不断增加的存在。中国机构的生产力也有所提高，本地期刊在 ISI 数据库中的代表性也有所增强。
中国在生物医学研究方面的贡献在 1990 年后真正爆发，尤其是 2000 年后。这种贡献的程度可能与中国开展的总研究活动不成比例，但正是这部分知识被输出并与国际研究活动的其他部分相互作用，促进了生物医学领域的研究潜力。
