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Barcelona boasts world's most cited cancer study

With 809 citations, a clinical trial by Barcelona’s August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) is the world’s most often cited study in the field of cancer. The study, published in 2008 in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrates the positive effect of the drug Sorafenib on the survival of patients with advanced liver cancer

STAFF | APRIL 13TH, 2011

The quality of a scientific paper is measured by the number of citations it receives. The journal Nature Medicine has published a list of the most cited original articles on cancer studies in scientific literature. Of all the papers published since 2008 in clinical and basic scientific journals, the one that has received the greatest number of citations is the article “Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma” authored by researchers at Barcelona’s August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008.

The article details a clinical trial that demonstrated the positive effect of the drug Sorafenib on the survival of patients with advanced liver cancer. The study pioneered the use of molecular therapies in this type of tumor, and has modified the clinical guidelines worldwide. The study was conducted under the framework of the Biomedical Research Centre Network in the Area of Hepatic and Digestive Disorders (CIBERehd), and was coordinated by the team of Dr. Jordi Bruix, head of the Hepatic Oncology Group of IDIBAPS, and Dr. Josep Maria Llovet, lead author of the article, ICREA Research Professor of IDIBAPS and Director of the HCC Research Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

The study pioneered the use of molecular therapies in this type of tumorEach scientific publication includes a list of articles that support the assertions it makes. The greater the number of articles that cite your work, the larger the influence your original article is considered to have in the scientific community. The article authored by researchers from IDIBAPS has received 809 citations since its publication in 2008, far outpacing the second-most cited article, which only received 579 references.

Moreover, according to the SCImago Institutions Rankings, a statistical study that analyzes the volume and quality of scientific production of the major scientific institutions from 2004 to 2008, the IDIBAPS and Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic occupy a privileged place in the international arena in the health sciences. Taking into account only the biomedical institutions, these two would be among the top 25 centers in the world in R+D. And according to the international comparative analysis prepared by the Research and Innovation Coordination Office (OCRI) of the Generalitat de Catalonia, IDIBAPS is by far the leading research center in Catalonia in terms of scientific production.

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