RESUMEN
Objective:To provide reference for the construction and development of medical colleges and universities by comparing the scientific research competitiveness of four newly-established medical universities in Shanghai, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Fujian of China.Methods:Four young state-owned medical universities, founded successively from 2015 in Shanghai, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, were selected as the research samples. Both CNKI and WoS databases were used to conduct comparative bibliometric analysis of high-quality literature published in core Chinese and foreign journals during 2016 to 2020 from such perspectives as number of papers, discipline distribution, source titles and funding, etc.Results:All four universities have displayed an increasing trend of publishing literature in core Chinese and foreign journals, but there are relatively fewer literature published in top international journals. The university from Shaanxi leads the other three with most indexes, and the two universities from Shanghai and Zhejiang stand close, while the one from Fujian lags behind, indicating a gap of scientific research competitiveness among the four.Conclusion:The reasons for the existing gap are potentially related to different college foundation and history, orientation and objectives, as well as the strength of scientific research team. Newly-built medical universities should keep deepening the comprehensive reform of medical education and strengthening comprehensive power of scientific research competitiveness.