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Violence is nowadays understood as one of the largest public health problems worldwide, whose magnitude grows vertiginously, and is subject of discussion and interventions that in the media in general, as in academic publications. Considering the increasing speed of production and spread of scientific knowledge and the need to discuss the phenomenon in the Brazilian reality, we intended to analyze the scientific production published in national health journals about violence and health matters from 2003 to 2007. Data were collected from Lilacs database and organized in a protocol in which the study variables were inserted. The process of data analyses was conducted through descriptive statistics and content analyses used the theme modality, attesting the pulverization of studies on violence in health journals, mainly in those concerned with public health. Based on different kinds of approaches, the authors were concerned with the study of themes related to theoretical-methodological constructions; violence and gender; violence and childhood; violence against the elderly; violence in specific contexts, violence and the world of work. It was possible to identify, in the period studied, gaps in knowledge production on health about violence against especially vulnerable groups, as well as the analysis of the effectiveness of strategies to fight this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]