D ATA PA G E

Trends in biotech literature 20092010

Wayne Peng
The emergence of large-scale, high-throughput technologies for analyzing epigenetic modifications and RNAs has fueled growth in these fields. Seminal publications appeared describing DNA nanotechnology, characterizing the gut microbiome and disclosing new platforms for DNA/RNA sequencing. China continues its march in terms of numbers of papers, but US institutions still accrue the most citations.

Historic trends in biotech fields

RNA interference (in particular microRNAs), proteomics, ES/iPS cell, epigenetics and systems biology continue rapid growth.
5,000 Number of articles in PubMed 4,500 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Proteomics RNA interference Gene therapy Epigenetic ES cell/iPS cell Systems biology GM agriculture Antisense microRNA Metabolomics Pharmacogenomics Cancer stem cell

Number of biotech articles published by region

Taiwans output of biotech papers surpassed Italys; articles originating from China continue rapid growth.
Average annual increase (06-10) 7.5% 13.6% 3.0% 12.7% 19.7% 1.2% 4.6% 12.7% 7.6% 9.0% 14.4% 9.1% 4.1% 11.3% -0.7% Region EU China US Korea India Japan Germany Taiwan Italy Australia Spain Netherlands Canada Poland Finland UK Portugal Brazil France Belgium 607 477 461 345 310 255 252 221 189 187 184 184 183 181 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 850 1,357 1,305 1,136 1,955 Number of biotech papers 2,000 2,500 500 1,000 1,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 3,702

2011 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.

ES cell, embryonic stem cell; iPS cell, induced pluripotent stem cell.
Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information, PubMed.

Top 25 institutions publishing in biotech in 2009

Chinese institutions now account for 5 out of the top 25 in terms of publication volume, though papers from United States remain most cited.
Median Institution times 0 cited 13.0 Natl. Cancer Institute 12.0 Harvard Univ. 11.0 Univ. Cambridge 10.0 Univ. Calif. Los Angeles 10.0 Univ. Penn. 10.0 Univ. Calif. San Francisco 10.0 Stanford Univ. 9.5 Johns Hopkins Univ. 7.0 Univ. Michigan 7.0 Univ. Washington 7.0 Univ. Florida 7.0 Univ. Wisconsin 6.5 Univ. Pittsburgh 6.0 Univ. Tokyo 6.0 Ohio State Univ. 6.0 Kyoto Univ. 6.0 Washington Univ. 5.0 Univ. British Columbia 4.0 Chinese Acad. Sci. 4.0 Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. 4.0 Fudan Univ. 4.0 CSIC 3.0 Zhejiang Univ. 3.0 Seoul Natl. Univ. 3.0 Sun Yat Sen Univ.

0.6% 38.6% 21.0% 15.6% -1.5%

Biotech articles published in 2009

20 40 60 55 48 61 60 60 63 63 80 74 71 100 120 140 160

EU represents the aggregated number of all EU member countries.

Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information, PubMed.

52

44

51 49

USA UK Japan Canada China Spain Korea

Top cited papers published in 2009 by field

Title Citation Most mammalian mRNAs are Genome Res. 19, conserved targets of microRNAs. 92105 (2009) Metagenomics A core gut microbiome in obese and Nature 457, lean twins. 480484 (2009) Animal models Antiangiogenic therapy elicits Cancer Cell 15, malignant progression of tumors to 220231 (2009) increased local invasion and distant metastasis. iPSC/ESC Yu, J. et al. Human induced pluripotent stem Science 324, cells free of vector and transgene 797801 (2009) sequences. Epigenetics Lister, R. Human DNA methylomes at base Nature 462, et al. resolution show widespread 315322 (2009) epigenomic differences. Agricultural bio- Paterson, The Sorghum bicolor genome and the Nature 457, technology A.H. et al. diversification of grasses. 551556 (2009) Proteomics Choudhary, Lysine acetylation targets protein Science 325, C. et al. complexes and co-regulates major 834840 (2009) cellular functions. Sequencing Eid, J. et al. Real-time DNA sequencing from Science 323, single polymerase molecules. 133138 (2009) Metabolomics Sreekumar, Metabolomic profiles delineate Nature 457, A. et al. potential role for sarcosine in 910914 (2009) prostate cancer progression. Gene therapy Kota, J. Therapeutic microRNA delivery sup- Cell 137, et al. presses tumorigenesis in a murine 10051017 liver cancer model. (2009) NanoDouglas, Self-assembly of DNA into nanoscale Nature 459, biotechnology S.M. et al. three-dimensional shapes. 414418 Diagnostics Park, J.H. Biodegradable luminescent porous Nat. Mater. 8, et al. silicon nanoparticles for in vivo 331336 (2009) applications. Imaging Lo Celso, C. Live-animal tracking of individual Nature 457, et al. haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells 9296 (2009) in their niche. Synthetic Tigges, M. A tunable synthetic mammalian Nature 457, biology et al. oscillator. 309312 (2009)
iPSC, induced pluripotent stem cell; ESC, embryonic stem cell. Source: ISI-Thomson Reuters Web of Science. Citation data as of 8/10/10.

Field microRNA

44

53 52 58

64

70

96 71

138

Author Friedman, R.C. et al. Turnbaugh, P.J. et al. Paez-Ribes, M. et al.

Times cited 384 357 353

44 48

67

339 330 259 250 241 229 185 144 125 109 90

Data obtained by searching 12 predefined biotechnology fields in articles published in 2009.

Source: ISI-Thomson Reuters Web of Science.

Biotech journal impact

Primary research journal Nature Biotechnology Cell Stem Cell Nature Chemical Biology Genome Research PNAS Molecular Systems Biology Molecular and Cellular Proteomics Stem Cells Review journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery Annual Review of Pharmacology Pharmacological Reviews Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering Trends in Biotechnology Current Opinion in Biotechnology
Source: ISI-Thomson Reuters, Journal Citation Report.

2009 Impact factor 31.085 25.943 17.927 13.588 9.771 9.677 8.354 7.871 2009 Impact factor 28.712 19.238 18.861 11.000 9.644 8.486

Change from 2008 1.590 2.380 1.869 2.246 0.339 2.448 0.437 0.124 Change from 2008 0.347 3.230 1.861 0.235 2.735 0.666

Wayne Peng is Emerging Technology Analyst, Nature Publishing Group

nature biotechnology volume 29 number 9 september 2011

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