Korea's contribution to radiological research included in Science Citation Index Expanded, 1986-2010.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate scientific papers published by Korean radiologists in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) radiology journals, between 1986 and 2010.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Institute for Scientific Information Web of Knowledge-Web of Science (SCIE) database was searched for all articles published by Korean radiologists, in SCIE radiology journals, between 1986 and 2010. We performed the analysis by typing "Korea" and "radiol" in the address section and selecting the subject area of "Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, and Medical Imaging" with the use of the general search function of the software. Analyzed parameters included the total number of publications, document types, journals, and institutions. In addition, we analyzed where Korea ranks, compared to other countries, in terms of the number of published articles. All these data were analyzed according to five time periods: 1986-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000, 2001-2005, and 2006-2010.

RESULTS: Overall, 4974 papers were published by Korean radiologists, in 99 different SCIE journals, between 1986 and 2010, of which 4237 (85.2%) were article-type papers. Of the total 115395 articles, worldwide, published in radiology journals, Korea's share was 3.7%, with an upward trend over time (p < 0.005). The journal with the highest number of articles was the American Journal of Roentgenology (n = 565, 13.3%). The institution which produced the highest number of publications was Seoul National University (n = 932, 22.0%).

CONCLUSION: The number of scientific articles published by Korean radiologists in the SCIE radiology journals has increased significantly between 1986 and 2010. Korea was ranked 4th among countries contributing to radiology research during the last 5 years.