Using Bibliometrics to Measure the Impact of Cancer Research on Health Service and Patient Care: Selecting and Testing Four Indicators

Introduction Traditionally, biomedical research is measured by bibliometric indicators of scientific production and impact (such as number of publications and hindex) and indicators linked to clinical trial activities (Pozen & Kline, 2011). However, there has been an increasing demand in the last few years to measure the impact of medical research in terms of how it improves patients’ well-being and public health (Wells & Whitworth, 2007; Ovseiko, Oancea, & Buchan, 2012). Measuring the final impact of research on patients’ outcomes is difficult because of attribution problems and time lag between research and outcomes (Ovseiko, Oancea & Buchan, 2012). The aim of our research project is to select and test indicators measuring the impact of cancer research on health service and patient care