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Topic · Pharmacology

Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare

Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare is a research topic within Pharmacology. Science Explorer counts 15k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of pharmaceutical industry sponsorship on research outcome and quality, including conflicts of interest, financial ties between physicians and industry, direct-to-consumer advertising, publication bias, and ethical considerations in medical practice. The papers investigate the influence of funding sources on clinical trials, prescribing behavior, and the integrity of medical science.

  • Pharmaceutical Industry
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Research Outcome
  • Financial Sponsorship
  • Physician Relationships
  • Direct-to-Consumer Advertising
  • Clinical Trials
  • Publication Bias
  • Medical Ethics
  • Prescribing Behavior
Research works
15k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
58% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare

Which countries lead Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (973 and 160 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 973 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 160 works
  3. 3 India 108 works
  4. 4 Canada 92 works
  5. 5 Australia 85 works
  6. 6 China 54 works
  7. 7 Germany 51 works
  8. 8 France 51 works
  9. 9 Japan 49 works
  10. 10 Brazil 46 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 58.3%United Kingdom: 9.6%India: 6.5%Canada: 5.5%6 others listed: 20.1%58%largest
United States973 · 58.3%United Kingdom160 · 9.6%India108 · 6.5%Canada92 · 5.5%6 others listed336 · 20.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare research, followed by Johns Hopkins University and BMJ Group (United Kingdom).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 45 works
  2. 2 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 22 works
  3. 3 BMJ Group (United Kingdom) 20 works
  4. 4 Yale UniversityUnited States 20 works
  5. 5 University of TorontoCanada 18 works
  6. 6 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 15 works
  7. 7 Stanford UniversityUnited States 15 works
  8. 8 The University of SydneyAustralia 14 works
  9. 9 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 14 works
  10. 10 University of MichiganUnited States 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and George Davey Smith.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  4. 4 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  5. 5 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  6. 6 Emelia J. Benjamin United States 341k citations
  7. 7 Stephan Windecker Switzerland 338k citations
  8. 8 Giuseppe Remuzzi Italy 328k citations
  9. 9 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  10. 10 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare?

The most cited paper in Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare is "Opportunities and responsibilities in pharmaceutical care" (Charles D. Hepler, Linda M. Strand, 1990), with 2,920 citations. Next come "Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy" (2,471) and "Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: systematic review" (2,181).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Opportunities and responsibilities in pharmaceutical care Charles D. Hepler, Linda M. Strand · American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy Mar 1990 2,920
2 Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy Erick H. Turner, Annette M. Matthews, Eftihia Linardatos et al. · New England Journal of Medicine 16 Jan 2008 2,471
3 Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality: systematic review Joel Lexchin, Lisa A Bero, Benjamin Djulbegovic et al. · BMJ ReviewOpen access 29 May 2003 2,181
4 Ethical authorship and publishing Andrew J.S. Coats · International Journal of Cardiology 29 Nov 2008 2,143
5 How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data Daniele Fanelli · PLoS ONE ReviewOpen access 28 May 2009 1,972
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare research done?

The largest centres of Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare research in 2022-now are New York (United States), Boston (United States), London (United Kingdom) and Washington D.C. (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in London, New Haven and Boston.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New YorkUnited States 54 works
  2. 2 BostonUnited States 47 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 45 works
  4. 4 Washington D.C.United States 34 works
  5. 5 BaltimoreUnited States 30 works
  6. 6 PhiladelphiaUnited States 30 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 29 works
  8. 8 SydneyAustralia 26 works
  9. 9 CambridgeUnited States 26 works
  10. 10 New HavenUnited States 22 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. London20.4 works60×
  2. New HavenUS · 22.2 works8.8×
  3. BostonUS · 46.7 works6.0×
  4. BaltimoreUS · 30.5 works5.8×
  5. PhiladelphiaUS · 29.6 works5.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare than the world average.

See Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare on the map

Where is the best place to study Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and University of California, San Francisco score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 15.29%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Johns Hopkins Univer…Harvard UniversityYale UniversityUniversity of Califo…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 83.215.3%7.3×45 -17.9%
2Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 76.918.5%7.3×22 +26.9%
3University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 64.213.5%9.9×14 +15.7%
4Yale UniversityUnited States 56.914.9%9.3×20 -2.8%
5The University of SydneyAustralia 55.217.0%5.8×14 -29.2%
6University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 55.020.3%3.3×9 +0.1%
7University of TorontoCanada 45.113.2%4.5×18 -18.9%
8The Ohio State UniversityUnited States 43.717.0%3.8×9 +27.1%
9University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 32.79.5%6.3×13 -9.5%
10University of WashingtonUnited States 32.313.7%4.2×9 +69.4%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare, country by country

Is Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0090% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare0.0094% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare10.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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