LAUSR

Publication performance of academic departments hints at research activity and attractiveness for employees. The aim of this retrospective bibliographic study was to compare publication performance of academic anaesthesiology departments in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Outcome measures were number of publications, original articles and number of citations per department, number of publications per anaesthesiologist and per capita and average impact factor per department. Articles published by university-affiliated anaesthesiology departments between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2015 were included. Articles were imported from Medline into the databank with “Perl-Scripts” and electronically linked to academic anaesthesiology departments according to the affiliation field of the corresponding author. Publication performance was assessed for the periods 2001–2005, 2006–2010, 2011–2015 and 2001–2015. From 2001 to 2015 in all three countries, the absolute numbers of articles increased (+ 110%), while the number of original research articles decreased (− 53%). Paris Diderot (Paris 7) booked the largest number of publications and achieved the highest average impact factor, while Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6) published the largest number of original articles and achieved the highest number of citations. Besançon had the highest average impact factor per article and the Netherlands the largest number of publications per capita. In Belgium, France and the Netherlands, the number of publications increased from 2001 to 2015. From 2001 to 2015 the number of publications increased, while the number of original articles decreased. France was seen to have the largest number of publications, while Belgium and the Netherlands had more publications per capita.