Contribution to the recent history of medicine of Sombor and Tuzla: The effect of a medical school on publishing

Paper compares numbers of publications published in indexed journals by authors from two cities, Tuzla and Sombor, approximately the same size during half of XX century, in order to determine how a newly opened medical school influences scientific research. Today, in Sombor only Faculty of Pedagogy exists (a part of Novi Sad University). From 1977-1979. number of publications from both cities was very low (only 2-4). Thirty years later, from 2009-2014. number of papers from Tuzla increased many fold (65-98 papers/year), while from Sombor remained low (0-4 papers/year) over the same period. Factors contributing to this phenomenon include: university environment, participation of most medical doctors in postgraduate research programs, exchange programs with other medical schools, both local and abroad, and significant financial support for medical students and research grants. Sombor enjoys no such financial support, and various temporary stimuli have failed to influence research and publishing significantly. Sombor doctors continue to present their observations and data at various meetings, but do not submit manuscripts to medical journals. Furthermore, the Sombor hospital administration does not support participation of physicians in graduate programs or doctoral studies. The rising number of published papers in Tuzla indicates that a larger medical center or hospital may not only inspire original research but may also guide busy physicians through process of publishing their manuscripts in medical journals. In this paper, details of postgraduate education at Medical School Tuzla are elaborated, and the idea of opening medical school in Sombor, first mentioned in the 1960s, is reiterated.