A substantial number of scientific publications originate from non-university hospitals.

Introduction: As we found no recent published reports on the amount and kind of research published from Danish hospitals without university affiliation, we have found it relevant to conduct a bibliometric survey disclosing these research activities.

Material and methods: We retrieved all scientific papers published in the period 2000-2009 emanating from all seven Danish non-university hospitals in two regions, comprising 1.8 million inhabitants, and which were registered in a minimum of one of the three databases: PubMed MEDLINE, Thomson Reuters Web of Science and Elsevier's Scopus.

Results: In 878 of 1,252 papers, the first and/or last author was affiliated to a non-university hospital. Original papers made up 69% of these publications versus 86% of publications with university affiliation on first or last place. Case reports and reviews most frequently had authors from regional hospitals as first and/or last authors. The total number of publications from regional hospitals increased by 48% over the 10-year period. Publications were cited more often if the first or last author was from a university hospital and even more so if they were affiliated to foreign institutions. Cardiology, gynaecology and obstetrics, and environmental medicine were the three specialities with the largest number of regional hospital publications.

Conclusion: A substantial number of scientific publications originate from non-university hospitals. Almost two thirds of the publications were original research published in international journals. Variations between specialities may reflect local conditions.

Funding: not relevant.

Trial registration: not relevant.