American biomedical science researchers publish in higher-quality journals than their UK counterparts and have a higher average journal impact factor, according to a comparison carried out by researchers at the University of Sussex.
International Careers of Researchers in Biomedical Sciences: A comparison of the US and the UK examines a database of 292 UK-based academics and 327 US-based researchers over the period 1956 to 2012. The comparison of journal publishing only covers the years 1991 to 2012. The two academic markets show many similarities, including a highly international make-up and a very mobile workforce, with 50 per cent having changed job at least once.
The results indicate that working in the US is correlated to higher researcher performance in terms of publication numbers as well as the impact and quality of those publications. Resources, institutional and social advantages may be responsible for this difference, the report says, but it does not draw a conclusion.
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