A quantitative and qualitative look at Turkey's publications in cardiovascular medicine in 2005

The progress of the output of publications in cardiovascular medicine originating from Turkey's institutions in 2005 were evaluated based on data of the Web of Science. After exclusion of meeting abstracts and letters to the editor, articles in full-text appearing in source publications of Science Citation lndex CD Edition were included. A weighted credit system was used for items published jointly with a foreign or noncardiological Turkish institution. Turkey's publications rose to 161 articles and her share of world publications to 8.6 per mille. Though the median impact factor of periodicals publishing these articles remained 1.22 in three consecutive years, the number of papers published in joumals with an impact factor of 2 or over was unchanged around 22, and the observed rise involved those with an impact factor below 2. Of these, 126 articles were concerned with adult cardiology, 24 papers with cardiovascular surgery, and 11 vvith pediatric cardiology in 2005. In contradis-tinction to certain centers in Ankara and İzmir, the performances of medical faculties in Anatolia were, in general, satisfactory this year, vvith special reference to Türkiye Yüksek İhtisas Hospital, GATA, and S. Ersek Surgical Center. The time is ripe for modifying the regulation for academic promotions.