TRENDS IN ORIGINAL RESEARCH PUBLISHED FROM THE UNITED-KINGDOM IN THE ANTIMICROBIAL CHEMOTHERAPY LITERATURE, 1980-1994

There is a feeling that the contribution of researchers from the Unite d Kingdom in the antimicrobial chemotherapy area is in decline, and we , therefore, reviewed publications in the Journal of Antimicrobial Che motherapy (JAC) and Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (AAC) in 4 o f the last 14 years. In absolute numbers the total number of UK first author publications in these two journals were 103, 78, 107 and 82 in 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1994 respectively. The percentage of first author papers from the UK in JAC was 35%, 21% 24%, 23% and in AAC was 5.7%, 4.9%, 5.1% and 4.7% for the years 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1994 respective ly. Within the UK there has been a relative decline in the number of p ublications produced by NHS hospital departments and an increase in th ose produced by universities. Ten institutions (four universities, two pharmaceutical companies and four NHS departments) produced almost ha lf of the UK publications. There is no room for complacency about the state of British antimicrobial research and the relative decline in th e NHS hospital sector's contribution, the largest contributor numerica lly, even before the full impact of the ongoing NHS reforms, is cause for concern.