A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Publications Funded Partially by the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) during a 10-year Period (1994-2003)

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study is to estimate the quantity and quality of research publications output of grant recipients of the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) over a ten-year period (1994-2003). Methods: Peer-reviewed publications, relevant to CANSA grants, in the PubMed database, published between 1994 and 2003 were counted per grantee in 2005 and the mean impact factor of all publications was obtained from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) valid for 2005. Results: Over the 10-year period, 129 different researchers from 10 different institutions conducted 192 projects which yielded 570 relevant peer-reviewed publications which are recorded in the PubMed database. CANSA grants totaled R28.2 million and the mean impact factor of all publications was 3.8. The number of publications per grantee, over the period analysed, varied considerably from 0 to 79 with 10% of grantees publishing more than 10 (1 per year) while a significant group of 36%, did not publish at all. Most studies (64%) concerned aspects of cancer biology and therapy while only 26% of projects involved prevention, epidemiology and social aspects of cancer. Conclusions: Because grants from CANSA are partial and do not pay for the major components of most research projects, such as salaries, the data obtained here is insufficient to create a benchmark for the cost of an average, peer-reviewed cancer research publication in South Africa. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that on average a contribution of about R50 000 from CANSA (1994 -2003 value), contributed to the appearance of one peer reviewed, cancer research publication with an average impact factor of 3.8 in the period under study. The most popular subjects of research were cancer biology and treatment. In order to bring about more balance in future more attention needs to be focused on prevention, early detection, epidemiology and social aspects of cancer.