San Antonio (April 3, 2007) — The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio ranked sixth in the nation in clinical medicine research impact for the period 2001 to 2005, according to a survey in the publication Science Watch. Because of the data analysis phase of the project, results were not available until a recent issue of Science Watch.
The survey calculated the citation impact of papers produced by the top 100 federally funded U.S. universities. It ranked the Top 10 institutions in 21 fields over the five-year period. Harvard University led the way with 15 Top 10 appearances, followed by Stanford University with 13. Survey results were derived from the Thomson Scientific University Science Indicators database.
The Health Science Center produced 2,576 papers in the clinical medicine category over the five-year period and was assigned a relative impact percentage of 90. According to survey parameters, this meant the Health Science Center’s clinical medicine papers were cited 90 percent more often than the world average for papers in clinical medicine.
“To have enough publications and enough citations per paper to be considered in a field as competitive as clinical medicine is a credit to our outstanding faculty,” said Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the Health Science Center. “Furthermore, to be that much better than the world average in citations shows the growing recognition of the excellence of this institution.”
The Health Science Center is strong in research of diabetes, stroke prevention, aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer, transplant science, psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, and many other subjects, said William L. Henrich, M.D., M.A.C.P., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs. “Clearly, our colleagues across the country and worldwide are taking notice of our faculty and the insights gleaned from research in our departments and centers,” Dr. Henrich said.
Research productivity must be accompanied by use of the research by others in the field, said Brian Herman, Ph.D., vice president for research and professor of cellular and structural biology at the Health Science Center. “If a finding at the Health Science Center is truly novel and able to move a field forward, it will be replicated by researchers in other institutions and will be cited in their works,” Dr. Herman said.
“We want to thank the San Antonio community and our legislative delegation for their excellent support that makes it possible for us to attract and retain outstanding scientists who are leaders in clinical medicine,” Dr. Cigarroa said.