Pathological research output in China and other top-ranking countries: 10-year survey of the literature.

The present study was designed to study the research output in pathology journals from the United States (USA), Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), France, and China between 2000 and 2009. Articles published in 67 pathology-related journals were retrieved from the PubMed database. US-American publications, which rank first, accounted for 30.9% of the total world's output and for 35.4% in the top 10% journals with impact factor (IF) scores. Chinese publications accounted for 2.8% of a total of 67 journals, and for 2.0% in the top 10% journals with IF scores. Our analysis investigated the research output of these six countries and revealed a positive trend in China for the period 2000-2009. Also, in contrast to other top-ranking countries, our results imply that China's research in the field of pathology falls behind that of the developed countries, and appropriate steps should be taken to improve the role of pathologists in clinical activity and to gear up for high-quality pathological studies.