Relationship between research, academic career and scientific publications

Medical research does not exist if not published. This sentence was addressed to me many years ago by a senior Italian hematologist. Of course, a scientific publication is essential to communicate important data in a determinate field of science. There is an enormous pressure on all scientists, but in particular on academic physicians both junior and senior, to obtain as many publications as possible, in the shortest time possible. But an essential condition is that the quality of published research has to be guaranteed and maintained versus the quantity required so desperately. Thus: how to measure quality and how to avoid problems related to academic pressure? A complex mathematical and statistical method has been elaborated by studying the publication careers of individual authors over the 50-year period 1958-2008. The objective of the academic community for the next future must be the strenghtening of research capacity.