Analysis of the medical and biological pain research literature in the European Union: A 2006 snapshot

This study analyzed 2443 papers published in 2006 by European Union authors on pain-related research. Five EU countries (the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and France) each published > 200 papers while three countries (Cyprus, Malta and Estonia) published none; socio-economic indicators were related to each country’s productivity. The 2443 papers were published in 592 journals and Cephalalgia, Pain and European Journal of Pain were the most prolific. Publications were also analyzed for intra- versus inter-EU/non-EU collaborations and subdisciplines profiles in Clinical Medicine and the Life Sciences for the World, USA, EU and the top-four EU countries were compared.