A Changing Landscape in Cardiovascular Research Publication Output: Bridging the Translational Gap

The concern about predominance of basic discovery research and lack of translation into clinical medicine, and segregation between these research communities, led the authors to study these research communities through mapping networks of publications and cross-references. Cardiovascular research from 1993 to 2013 was published in 565 journals, including 104 new journals. Only 50% were published in core cardiovascular journals, such as the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, whereas one-half of cardiovascular publications were found in broader biomedical/multidisciplinary journals. The growth of the clinical journal community and merging into one broad journal community suggests a decreasing dichotomy between basic/preclinical and clinical research, potentially contributing to bridging the translational gap.