Biomedical update

London, Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh produce the most biomedical papers in the country, but Belfast and Leicester are the areas where biomedical output is increasing the most rapidly, according to a new report, writes Julia Hinde.

The new report, Mapping the Landscape, produced by the Wellcome Trust, looks at the UK's biomedical research outputs between 1988 and 1995 at a time when government spending on R&D fell as a percentage of GDP, while charity and industry expenditure increased in real terms.

It finds that biomedicine accounts for just over half of UK scientific output, while the number of UK papers in the field has increased by a third over the period. Both national and international collaborations have increased, with the UK collaborating most with the United States. Collaboration with Spain and Portugal is increasing most rapidly.

The paper was due to be presented as part of this week's Fifth International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, organised by Leiden University, Holland, and SPRU, Sussex University's science policy research unit.