Development of Primary Care Research in North America, Europe, and Australia From 1974 to 2017

The Article in Brief

Development of Primary Care Research in North America, Europe, and Australia From 1974 to 2017

Gladys Ibanez , and colleagues

Background Previous research has assessed the production of scholarly output in primary care. This study updates and expands those efforts through a situational review and analysis of primary care publication productivity in North America, Europe and Australia.

What This Study Found Since 1974, the number of research publications addressing primary care has increased, but still represents a small proportion of publications in the MEDLINE database. This bibliometric analysis of research output in 21 countries between 1974 and 2017 found that the United States and United Kingdom had the highest volume of research publications about primary care, followed by Canada and Australia. There was significant growth in publications from countries in Southern, Eastern and Western Europe. During the same time period, the United Kingdom and Australia had the largest share of publications in primary care among all publications that appeared in MEDLINE. When compared to the total number of MEDLINE publications in 2017, however, primary care publications still represented only a small proportion of the total.

Implications

• The authors suggest that examining factors associated with increased research output may help define priorities in primary care research.