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Introduction: Over the last few years, the Acta Otorrinolaringológica Española (Acta ORL) has been working to improve its impact factor. A high citation rate in the Journals indexed at the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) is needed to achieve this, particularly in the ones with a high impact factor. The objective of this study was to analyse the index of citation by other national research groups of the articles by Spanish otorhinolaryngologists published in the Acta ORL Esp., Material and Methods: Retrospective descriptive-bibliometric study to analyse the publications and citations of original articles published in the Acta ORL between January 2004 and December 2008., Results: We observed that Spanish otolaryngologists had a low publication index in the Acta ORL, where only 39.1% of the Spanish biomedical production was published. Moreover, the original articles published in the Acta ORL had a low index (32%) of citation by other national authors or groups, displaying a strong self-citation tendency (18.9%)., Conclusion: National otorhinolaryngologists or ORL research groups had a low tendency to cite other national (ORL) authors in their publications. In addition, national authors had low biomedical production compared with their European peers. The biomedical production and the articles published in the Acta ORL had a low citation index by ISI indexed journals., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Analyze the different contribution of hierarchical categories in the papers published by radiologists of hospitals belonging to Comunidad Valenciana along the period 1994-2001, as well as their distribution in the different journals., Material and Methods: For the recovery of the papers sample we have designed specific search profiles for EMI and Medline databases. Hierarchical category of the authors was identified through personal interviews., Results: We have analyzed 417 works, with 1,321 authors distributed in the following form: chief of service, 8.8%; chief of section, 12.4%; assistant physician, 50.7%, and resident, 28%. Hierarchical groupings with participation of residents were more consistent for publishing papers along all the study period (1994-2001). Higher percentage of papers (21%) corresponded to <> grouping. Radiología was the most productive journal (42% papers). All results were statistically significant (p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: Radiodiagnosis residents of Comunidad Valenciana hospitals showed an active participation in research papers published along the period 1994-2001, in collaboration with the rest of the hierarchical categories, basically with the assistant physician. Assistant physicians contributed most of papers. Chief of section and chief of department contributed fifth of papers.

Background: A relevant increase in the spanish biomedical production has occurred in the last few years. The magnitude, evolution and characteristics of the Spanish scientific production in Rheumatology is here analyzed through the published papers in foreign specialty journals., Methods: Location in spanish documents published from 1990 to 1996 in nine foreign rheumatology journals of great visibility in MEDLINE. Classification of documents according to type of publication, specialty of authors and type of design. Estimation of bibliometric and collaboration indicators. Analysis of their evolution and comparison with data published for 1987., Results: The number of Spanish documents from 1990 to 1996 doubled and from 1987 to 1996 tripled, with a 54% increase for the four journals with more visibility. In 1996, the spanish documents reached 5% of the total of published documents in several journals. From 1990 to 1996 original papers increased almost four times more than letters, the analytical studies increased almost eight times more than descriptive studies, and the mean expected impact factor of the originals multiplied by 1.6. The published documents by spanish rheumatologists had a more favorable profile--higher ratios for originals: letters, analytical studies: descriptive studies--than publications performed by other specialists in this area. The number of authors by document (median) increased from 5 to 6 during the analyzed period. Seventy-two percent of documents was signed by more than one department and 75% by only one institution., Conclusions: A relevant increase has occurred in the number and quality spanish documents published in the rheumatology area during the last ten years. To note a lack of collaboration between different institutions and few analytical studies of great complexity: cohort studies and controlled clinical trials.

Introduction: Some studies have shown a lower female participation in scientific publications. The objective of this study is to analyse the gender inequalities in the main Spanish journals of medical publications., Material and Method: Cross-sectional study of the main Spanish medical journals classified by SCImago Journal & Country Ranking (n=24) and their publications (n=3.375), during the year 2017. Women/men ratio in authorship was calculated for all journals and types of papers. Bivariate analyses were developed with the type of article as the dependent variable, and gender, institution, and country of the first and last authors as the independent variables. Logistic regression models were performed to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of the types of papers according to authorship gender, institution, and country. The statistical program used was R., Results: The total number of authors was 16,252 (44.2% women, 53.9% men, and 1.9% non-identified gender). Women represented 46% of the first authors and 33.5% of the last ones. Women were the first authors of Editorials less often than men (aOR 0.39; 95% CI 0.30-0.51), but more often in Originals (aOR 1.55; 95% CI 1.33-1.80). Women were the last authors with less frequency in all types of papers, especially in Editorials (aOR 0.50; 95% CI 0.35-0.70). The women/men ratio in authorship was less than 0.80 in 10 of 26 journals analysed (41.7%)., Conclusions: These results show the gender inequalities in the authorship of the main Spanish medical journals in 2017, especially as first authors and Editorials., (Copyright © 2020. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.)

Introduction: Publishing in scientific journals is an indicator of hospital quality and has become a standard of excellence for medical doctors and institutions. The aim of the study is to identify the scientific publications performed by Otolaryngology Departments in Spain within the period 2011-2015 and to compare them to a previous period between 1998-2002., Material and Methods: Original papers published by Otolaryngology Departments in Spain in PubMed within 2011-2015 were retrieved. They were classified according to the type of journal published (international or Acta ORL Española) and the following subspecialty areas: Otology, Audiology and Neuro-Otology, Head and Neck Surgery (including Oncology), Rhinology and Paediatric ENT. Hospitals were ranked according to: number of original papers, accumulated impact factor and total number of publications., Results: Between 2011 and 2015, 49342 publications were included in PubMed, 1.44% from Otolaryngology Departments in Spain. Between 1998 and 2002, 3.80% publications were from Spanish ENT departments. Of the 712 papers published within the period 2011-2015, 389 were published in Acta ORL Española and 323 in international journals. From the latter, 20.7% belong to the Otology area, 19.2% to Audiology-Neuro-otology, 30.6% to Head and Neck Surgery, 15.2% to Rhinology and 3.4% to Paediatric ENT. Five tertiary centres published at least 10 original papers in the same period., Conclusions: Spanish otolaryngology's contribution to international journals has decreased in the last 12 years. A few institutions are responsible for the majority of publications and they have notably increased the cumulative impact factor., (Copyright © 2018 Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This article aims to provide a quantitative and qualitative description of the publications on Nuclear Medicine (NM) in journals from other disciplines, between 2000 and 2009., Material and Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out including the years 2000-2009 in three internal medicine journals (IM) and in three related specialty journals (RS). The criteria used are that some of the authors were located professionally in a Service, Unit or Central MN and/or that the title of the article or at least its content made a reference to some specific aspect of NM. Date of publication, the magazine section, thematic, data of the authors, province and referral hospital were collected., Results: A total of 186 articles were found, 81 in IM journals and 105 in RS. The IM journal articles came from 43 different hospitals. Vall d'Hebron (Barcelona, Spain) was the hospital with the largest volume. Twenty-four provinces were identified, Barcelona and Madrid standing out among them with 20 and 17 articles, respectively. In the RS journals, 59 hospitals/centers had participated, Vall d'Hebron standing out with 51 articles. There were 9 foreign articles. The articles were distributed into 19 provinces, Barcelona and Madrid standing out with 32 papers and 20 papers, respectively., Conclusions: There are at least twice as many articles in the RS Journals than in the IM ones. «Original» articles are the most frequent. The Clinical and Translational Oncology journal in RS and Medicina Clínica in IM stand out with the highest number of articles. No specific topic prevailed., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and SEMNIM. All rights reserved.)

Objective: "Medicina Paliativa" is the official journal of the Spanish Society of Palliative Care ("Sociedad Española de Cuidados Paliativos"; SECPAL) and it reflects the interests, also on bioethics, of the professionals caring terminal people. We want to know what the bioethical questions they discuss and their approaches are., Methods: From all the published articles in "Medicina Paliativa" from 1994 to 2013 we selected those referred to bioethics topics. We analysed: number of publications, author, subtype of article, year of publication, topic, philosophic approach, and the presence of answers and discussion. Qualitative topics were reviewed and agreed by at least two authors., Results: There were 60 (9%) publications with bioethics profile from a total of 672 analyzed articles. A majority were signed by only one author. 31 (51%) were published as letter. The most relevant topics were: euthanasia, dignity, proportionality of treatment and care, sedation, principles of bioethics, and information. The orientation of these papers was, in a majority, according to principles of palliative care. Most bioethics topics have been answered and even answered back., Conclusion: Bioethics is an interesting topic in palliative care. The arguments usually fit the principles of palliative care.

Introduction: The aim of this paper is to quantify, by means of bibliometric indicators, the scientific production of Spanish researchers and institutions publishing in national and international paediatric journals, as well as multidisciplinary and other knowledge areas publications during the period 2006-2010, and to determine their impact., Methods: The articles were obtained by applying specific search strategies in databases including, Science Citation Index-Expanded, Scopus, Índice Médico Español, and Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud., Results: A total of 7971 articles were published in 971 journals, in which 142 were from Spain and 829 were international. The most productive journals were Anales DE PEDIATRÍA (n=1257), Acta Pediátrica Española (n=456) and Evidencias en Pediatría (n=358). Articles were published mostly in English (41.04%) and in Spanish (38.18%), with the participation of 17 874 different authors from 3302 institutions. Approximately 60% of the papers were cited at least once, and 39.81% were never cited. The mean number of citations per document was 4.28 (SD=9.54). The most cited journals were Pediatrics (n=770), Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, and Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (n=553)., Discussion: The number of articles progressively increased from 2006 to 2010, which confirms the consolidation and growth of Spanish pediatric research, where the results are published in a wide range of Spanish and international journals, among which stands out is the ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA, the only Spanish pediatric journal with an impact factor. The increasing internationalization of Spanish Pediatrics is also confirmed, since a sustained growth of articles published in international journals is observed, where a quarter was published in US or British journals, as well as the importance of the publication in English. There is a concern about the fact that almost 40% of the articles did not receive a citation, which should encourage authors to complete research of quality, and editors to start editorial policies addressed to increase manuscript and journal quality., (Copyright © 2013 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Scientific collaboration is very important, as it is the basis of the scientific development of every discipline. The aim of this paper is to identify the indicators of scientific collaboration and co-authorship networks of Spanish researchers and institutions publishing in national and international paediatric, multidisciplinary or other knowledge areas journals during the period 2006-2010., Methods: The papers studied were obtained from the databases including, Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus, Índice Médico Español and Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud, by means of applying different search profiles. All the papers signed by co-authors were quantified in order to identify the authorship and institutional collaboration networks. Furthermore the degree, betweenness index, and closeness index were obtained as a measurement of the structural analysis. Co-authorships were represented graphically by the network analysis and display software Pajek., Results: A total of 7971 articles were published during the period 2006-2010, with 90.55% completed in collaboration. Using a threshold of 10 or more co-authorships, 77 research groups in Pediatrics were identified. Most papers were published in collaboration between institutions of the same Autonomous Community (42.28%), and 14.84% with international collaboration. The analysis of institutional participation enabled a large nucleus or institutional collaboration network to be identified, with 52 linked institutions. International collaboration was led by the USA and European countries, such as United Kingdom, Germany and Italy., Discussion: Authors, institutions and the most active working groups in Spanish pediatrics were identified, which is very interesting information to establish contacts to increase the existing networks, to prevent redundancies, and to take advantage of the new emerging groups. It is necessary to promote the collaboration of Spanish researchers, especially with their international colleagues, since a positive relationship is found between international collaboration and quality and impact of publications measured by citation analysis., (Copyright © 2013 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The objectives of this paper are to analyze the Spanish scientific production in nursing, define its temporal evolution, its geographical and institutional distribution, and observe the interinstitutional collaboration., Method: We analyze a comprehensive sample of Spanish scientific production in the nursing area extracted from the multidisciplinary database SciVerse Scopus., Results: The nursing scientific production grows along time. The collaboration rate is 3.7 authors per paper and 61% of the authors only publish one paper. Barcelona and Madrid are the provinces with highest number of authors. Most belong to the hospitalary environment, followed closely by authors belonging to the university. The most institutions that collaborate, sharing authorship of articles are: University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Clinic Hospital of Barcelona., Discussion: The nursing scientific production has been increasing since her incorporation at the university. The collaboration rate found is higher than found for other papers. It shows a low decrease of occasional authors. It discusses the outlook of scientific collaboration in nursing in Spain, at the level of institutions by co-authorship of papers, through a network graph. It observes their distribution, importance and interactions or lack thereof., Conclusions: There is a strong need to use international databases for research, care and teaching, in addition to the national specialized information resources. Professionals are encouraged to normalization of the paper's signature, both, surnames and institutions to which they belong. It confirms the limited cooperation with foreign institutions, although there is an increasing trend of collaboration between Spanish authors in this discipline. It is observed, clearly defined three interinstitutional collaboration patterns., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)

Psychiatric research in Spain went through a notorious increase in quality and quantity of peer-reviewed papers during the last decade of the previous century, in parallel with other medical disciplines. Although there have been systematic studies of scientific production, they are inadequate from the perspective of the research groups and particularly from university departments. We considered this bibliometric study, in order to analyze the scientific production of the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, UAB [DPsML]. METHODOLOGY. In a cross-sectional survey of independent groups (n = 57, 54% men), indicators were applied to production, quality, visibility/distribution and sustained popularity. RESULTS. DPsML research groups, published 314 articles and/or reviews (216 international) between 2004 – 2009, reaching a total of 974 quotations in the period (16 quots./ basic researcher and 11.3 quots./clinical researcher). Contributions at the Thomson Scientific Index [TSI], come from clinical groups (56.48%), and basic groups: 43.52%. The basic groups showed on average impact factor of 5.12 and clinical groups of 2. CONCLUSIONS. DPsML published 11.84% of most cited papers in Spanish psychiatry, 20% in the field of drug addiction and 20.84% in the field of behavioral science,1 the inconsistent results with other bibliometric studies2 on the same researchers, shows the need for more tight and demanding indicators and mapping of production encompassing, both research groups as molar units (university departments). Key words: Bibliometrics, Scientific output, Impact index, Citation analysis, Psychiatry.

The main objective of the present study was to classify doctoral programs with Quality Mention in Psychology based on their scientific productivity. For this purpose, articles in the Web of Science published by professors teaching in these doctoral programs were analyzed. In addition, we analyzed scientific journals in which these professors tend to publish more papers and the evolution in the number of papers published until 2009. Results showed that the most productive doctoral program was the Neurosciences program at the University of Oviedo. This program showed a ratio of 40 articles--published in journals included in Journal Citation Reports--by each professor. In contrast, other programs did not reach a ratio of 10 articles per professor. Regarding journals, results showed that 9 out of the 20 most popular journals are Hispanic and a gradual increase in the number of published papers was also observed. Lastly, results and implications for quality assessment are discussed.

The Editors of the Rev Clin Esp inform herein on their editorial activity in the last year (November 2009 to October 2010) according to three different sections: (a) Objectives and achievements during 2010, (b) editorial activity, and (c) objectives for 2011. During 2010, we have updated the editorial algorithm (manuscript time lag). We have developed the "E-case reports" section and we have linked the abstracts of the Annual Congress of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) to a journal supplement (electronically available). Since 2010, the subscribers have been able to receive all of the contents of the Rev Clin Esp on-line and to perform self-evaluations in order to obtain 1.7 credits per each journal issue (continuing education). In 2010 we handled 402 manuscripts (7.2% more than in 2009), 35% of which were accepted for publication. We asked 186 reviewers for their expert opinion, 75% of whom sent their reports in less than two weeks. The mean time needed to reach an editorial decision concerning original manuscripts ("accepted / rejected") was 44.5 days and for papers not sent to external reviewers 19.5 days. Collaboration with the work groups produced good results (2.4 published manuscripts per issue), but this could be improved if all the groups collaborated in all the journal sections. Our objectives for 2011 are to complete the renewal of the Rev Clin Esp scientific committee, in accordance with the SEMI Council, and to continue to proceed with the actions initiated to increase the journal impact factor. Rev Clim Esp is an open forum for all internal medicine specialists. Responsibility falls on all of us to collaborate in order to make our journal a little better day by day., (Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Espana.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the production, impact and co-authorship of publications by Spanish authors on smoking and tobacco between two time periods (1998/2002 vs 2003/2007) using Science Citation Index (SCI)., Methods: The literature search was performed in the SCI-Expanded on 20 November 2008. All types of documents by Spanish authors were selected. The search was restricted to the title, and the key words used were "smok*" and "tobac*". The statistical analysis was descriptive (95% CI)., Results: A total of 588 documents were obtained, with 399 (67.85%) original papers, 54 (9.18%) letters to the editor, and 35 (5.95%) editorials. Productivity increased between the 98/02 to 03/07 periods: 234 (39.8%) documents versus 354 (60.2%). We have found significant differences between the two periods (98/02 vs 03/07) in total mean annual documents (47 ± 8 vs 71 ± 16 [p=0.024]) and total mean annual original papers (34 ± 6 vs 46 ± 9 [p=0.041]). The mean number of citations per document was 14.1 ± 2.1 for 98/02 period and 5.6 ± 2.5 for 03/07 period (p=0.003). The co-authorship annual index had increased; with a mean of 6.77 signatures/document for 98/02 period to a mean of 6.87 for 03/07 period. Authors and institution networks collaborations had increased between the two periods., Conclusions: Spanish production and co-authorship of documents on smoking and tobacco have increased between these two periods. The earlier period documents received more citations., (Copyright © 2010 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyse Spanish scientific research output related to obesity during a 20-year period from 1988 to 2007 into context with the European Union productivity, Methods: The bibliometric study was based on research of the MEDLINE database in PubMed. Search terms were "obesity" appearing in MeSH. Linear regression was used to estimate trends in number of publications., Results: We retrieved 50,120 documents on obesity in the study period, and 1,407 were by Spanish authors (2.7% of the world production). Spain, accounting for 8.1% of scientific output in this area, was the fifth most productive country in the European Union; 932 (69.1%) of papers were published in English. The average yearly increase in publications was 15%, from 91 documents in the first five-year period to 702 in the last five-period. The most frequent specialty of first author was endocrinology (279 documents, or 22.8%), followed by physiology-nutrition-bromatology (203, or 16.6%), and biochemistry (161, or 13.2%). Journals publishing the largest numbers of papers on obesity were Medicina Clínica (83 or 6.1%), Obesity Surgery (79 or 5.8%), International Journal of Obesity (73) and Nutricion Hospitalaria (59). The most productive regions in Spain were Cataluña (338 or 24.9%), Madrid (286 or 20,6%), and Navarra (159 or 11,7%). The most productive institutions were hospitals, with 708 titles (52.1%), followed by universities, with 521 (38.5%)., Conclusions: Obesity research in Spain has increased over the last 20 years and accounted for a substantial proportion of European Union research in this field. Half of the papers by Spanish authors were published in international non-Spanish journals. Most of papers were carried out from hospital settings and universities., (Copyright 2009 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)

All the papers on autism published in journals by Spanish authors until 2007 were reviewed in order to identify changes and trends in studies, journals and authorship networks. A total of 567 works were analyzed. Results showed a continuous increase in the total number of publications and collaborative works (especially from 1999 onwards), as well as coincidence of the general framework of papers with the guidelines for research and treatment on autism that were published in the Anglo-Saxon arena for the same period. Some weak points were also identified, such as the low proportion of empirical and funded studies, low impact of the journals, and low author continuity, which have also been noted for other domains of research in Spain. We conclude that psychological and biomedical research on autism is currently a growing field in our country. However, important changes are needed, both in the way the authors conduct and communicate their studies, and in the commitment of some institutions (specially, universities and parent advocacy groups). Lastly, some proposals are suggested to improve the scientific quality of future studies and their usefulness for people with autism.

Introduction: Anatomical eponyms are terms that have been proscribed in anatomical terminology, but are widely used in medicine and neurology. Their persistence is due to the fact that they are used in textbooks and scientific papers., Aims: To determine which neuroanatomical eponyms are used in neurology in Spanish, and how often they are utilised., Materials and Methods: We conducted a descriptive, longitudinal, retrospective study of the neuroanatomical eponyms that appeared in papers published in the online version of Revista de Neurología between 1998 and 2006., Results: In all, 46 papers with 193 eponyms were reviewed. The main eponyms used were the following: vein of Galen (14%), circle or polygon of Willis (11.9%) and cerebral or Sylvian aqueduct (11.4%). Other eponyms that do not appear in the Anatomical terminology were: Broca's area (15.5%) and Wernicke's area (7.2%). Most of the eponyms were found in clinical notes (43.4%) and reviews (28.2%), and there was an increase in the number of eponyms published in more recent years, that is, 2003-2006., Conclusions: No studies on the frequency of eponym usage were found and the first data on the subject are those included here. In order to prevent the dissemination of eponyms, they should not appear in the title or the keywords used in articles. Eponyms referring to blood vessels and the ventricular system of the brain were the most commonly used and were found in the clinical notes or reviews dealing with magnetic resonance, computed tomography and ultrasound imaging of the vascular system of the brain.

Introduction: San Antonio, Somacarrera (1977) and Rousaud-Inmark (1984) studies established the first data of incidence and prevalence about urolithiasis in Spain. Other regional or national epidemiologic details were given for several authors from 1977 to 2002., Material and Method: Sixteen papers with original data about incidence or prevalence have been selected, 5 of them are about incidence, 8 about prevalence and 3 include both. Ten papers are based on poblational research (San Antonio, Martin, Pedrajas, Rousaud-Inmark, Torres, Ripa, Romero, Grases, Alapont, Aíbar), 5 on subjective estimations (Solé-Balcells, Cifuentes, Puigvert, Serrallach, Conte) and one include both (Somacarrera). Seven papers are nationwide and 9 are about local areas. A map with different location studies is presented and a data register show incidence and prevalence medians., Results: The Spanish median urolithiasis incidence is 0.73%, corresponding to 325,079 new cases per year; and the prevalence is 5.06%, corresponding to 2,233,214 cases., Discussion: Methodologically the best epidemiologic studies about lithiasis are based on general population survey. The commonest slant is extract data from retrospective clinical registers. Most studies have significant methodological difficulties, but they reflected interest about epidemiology of stone disease in Spain. There is a concordance between Spanish results and international published data.

Introduction: Bibliometric studies belong to the so-called 'social studies of science', and science policy constitutes one of its main applied fields, providing objective and useful tools for evaluating the results of scientific activity. Neurological sciences are very important in the bibliometric map of Spain about biomedicine and health sciences, from a quantitative (second thematic area in productivity, only after biology-biochemical) and a qualitative (high health costs and morbimortality) point of view., Development: In Spain we can found about 360 biomedical journals, 18 of them related to the area of neurological sciences. In 2005, only 17 biomedical Spanish journals were in the Science Citation Index database, three of them in the field of neurosciences: Neurologia (impact factor = 0.57), Revista de Neurologia (0.39) and Neurocirugia (0.23), and these journals have also very good Latindex criteria about formal aspects. But it is important to mention that the impact factor specifically measures visibility and diffusion of the works published by these journals rather than their scientific quality. We search the answer to some questions about the present and future of biomedical journals in general and neurological journals in particular: paper or electronic publication?, free access or open access?, scientific journal or scientific article?, English or Spanish publication?, Conclusions: The Acuerdo de Buenos Aires is an initiative to promote scientific neurological papers of high quality in Spanish. The current status of neurological journals in the bibliometric context of our country is good and open to the advantages of electronic and free access.

Background and Objective: Concern for encouraging gender equality makes it one of the high priority spheres of action for governments and organisations responsible for instigating scientific policies, with particular importance being placed on including the gender variable in evaluative analyses of scientific and technological activity. A comparative study was made, broken down by gender, of the scientific output of Spanish researchers with a high production in the field of substance abuse., Material and Method: We identified the gender of 338 authors who had published more than four different articles during the period from 1999-2004 and which were indexed in the IME/Indice Médico Español and the SCI/Science Citation Index databases, making a comparative analysis of their output and collaboration patterns, based on the gender variable., Results: In the area of substance abuse, of those with the highest output (> 9 papers), 70% were men compared with 30% women. Among the average producers (5-9 papers), 57% of the authors identified were men and 43% women. Statistically significant differences were observed between men and women with the highest output with regard to the number of published works and those with whom they had collaborated., Conclusions: There is no gender equality in the area of substance abuse, particularly when considering the top researchers. It is essential to make in-depth studies that evaluate scientific output, broken down by gender, in order to adopt the necessary corrective measures to eliminate the disparity between men and women.

Five obstacles are described that currently prevent Spanish researchers in the psychological sciences from publishing more frequently in journals of high impact factor. These are: a) a general lack of confidence in your ability; b) a tendency for your papers to be driven more by speculation rather than data; c) excessive length of submitted manuscripts; d) higher than expected rates of drop-out and non-participation in studies, and e) lack of independence from pharmaceutical companies. Although many of these problems will require long-term structural changes, others can be addressed immediately and yield improvement rapidly.

Objectives: to analyze scientific output from Spanish hospitals in relation to Helicobacter pylori infection., Methods: papers collected from the Medline database between January 1988 and December 2003 were selected. Our search strategy was: "Helicobacter pylori" [MeSH] AND ((Spain [AD] OR Espana [AD] OR Spanien [AD] OR Espagne [AD] OR Espanha [AD]) OR (Spanish [LA]) OR Spain). The following was analyzed: geographic area, Spanish or foreign publication, topic, and year of publication. Output and impact bibliometric markers were evaluated., Results: in all, 691 papers were identified, of which 241 were excluded. Number of papers went from 2 in 1988 to 47 in 2002 and 13 in 2003. There were more reports in Spanish versus foreign journals (58 vs. 42%). In the first 5 years the areas with greater output were associated with diagnosis and microbiology (33 and 20%), whereas therapy was the predominating subject during the last 5 years (27%). Original papers were most common among publications (69%). Hospitals with highest output included La Princesa (24%) and Ramón y Cajal (17.6%) in Madrid, and Parc Taulí in Barcelona (6.4%). Mean impact factor progressively increased from 1.826 in 1988 to 2.142 in 2002 and 2.493 in 2003., Conclusions: the production and impact of documents published by Spanish scientists regarding H. pylori infection considerably increased during the past two decades.

Objective: The aim of this study were: to analyze the spanish production in diagnostic and therapeutics research area of respiratory system in international journals from 1990 to 2002., Material and Methods: Papers published in diagnostic and therapeutics area of respiratory system during this period of time were selected by the PUBMED system. We delimited the production with key words: respiratory system and the one that is used by the diagnostic and therapeutics research area., Results: We obtain a total of 67 document published in international journals by spanish authors. The scientific production in the diagnostic and therapeutics area have stabilized in this 12 years period. The distribution of articles by the institutional affiliation and province of authors also showed a wide dispersion: Barcelona and Clinic and Provincial Hospital of Barcelona were responsible for 43.1% and 23.8% of all the production. Bronchoalveolar lavage and the use of telescopic catheter were the type of diagnostic and therapeutic procedure more productive., Conclusions: The scientific production in the diagnostic and therapeutics area of respiratory system have stabilized in this 12 years period, this evidence contrast with the high growth detected in respiratory system in general.

The aim of this paper is to present the bibliometric indicators for Revista Española de Cardiologíathat were obtained from the "Potential impact factor of Spanish medical journals in 2001" study financed by the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte. Citations to Revista Española de Cardiología, its national and international impact factor, and its immediacy index were calculated with methods similar to those used by the Institute for Scientific Information. National indicators were based only on citations from 87 Spanish journals considered source journals, whereas international indicators were calculated on the basis of citations from both national journals and foreign source journals in the Science Citation Index. Revista Española de Cardiologíaobtained a national impact factor of 0.719 and an international impact factor of 0.837, placing it at the head of the ranking of Spanish medical journals.

The aim of this paper is to present the bibliometric indicators of Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría that were obtained from the study "Potential impact factor of the Spanish medical journals in 2001", financed by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. The citations made in Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría and its national and international impact factor and immediacy index have been obtained by the use of a methodology similar to the one used by the Institute for Scientific Information. The national indicators only take into account the citations made in 87 Spanish journals considered as sources, while those from the foreign source journals of Science Citation Index have been added to the previously cited ones. Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría has obtained a national impact factor of 0.315 and an international impact factor of 0.395, which places it as a leader in the Spanish psychiatric journals.

Introduction and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the production of research papers by Spanish authors on diagnostic imaging published in the official journals of two Spanish scientific societies (Revista Española de Cardiología and Radiología) between 1994 and 1998, and to compare publication rates with those of research papers published in foreign cardiological and radiological journals included in Journal Citation Reports., Material and Method: Specific search profiles were devised to retrieve items from the Indice Médico Español (IME) and MEDLINE databases. The impact factor for non-Spanish journals devoted to different specialties was normalized for the number of papers published., Results: 967 articles were analyzed (301 on cardiac imaging, 666 on radiology). In the former specialty, 50.5% of the items were published in Revista Española de Cardiología, and in the latter, 55.1% were published in Radiología (no statistically significant difference). Impact factor was 2.46 for cardiology and 0.98 for radiology. The percentage of papers published in journals ranked in the top quartile according to impact factor was 38.6% (cardiology) and 17.2% (radiology); the difference was significant at P< .0001., Discussion: Although a tendency for radiologists to publish increasingly in foreign radiological journals has been observed, Spanish cardiologists and radiologists publish more than 50% of their research papers on diagnostic imaging in the official journals of their national societies. The differences in the percentage of articles by Spanish authors published in international specialty journals ranked in the first quartile (twice as great for cardiology as for radiology) suggests that Spanish radiologists are joining the scientific international community at a slower rate than Spanish cardiologists.

Introduction: Medical research in our geographic area has undergone significant changes over the last three decades. The objective of this study was to quantitatively determine Spain's medical research output published in the journals included in the Infectious Diseases section of the Journal Citation Reports, and to compare it with that of other European Union (EU) countries., Methods: The PubMed Web site (MEDLINE) was used to retrieve medical articles published by authors from Spain and other EU countries from 1991 to 2001 in 36 infectious disease journals included in the Infectious Diseases section of the Journal Citation Reports., Results: We retrieved a total of 17,899 documents published by EU authors during the study period. Authors from Spanish institutions contributed 1,340 documents, 7.5% of the overall EU production. Spain ranked in the sixth position of the EU by number of papers. It remained in the same position after adjusting for gross national product and dropped to the ninth position after correcting for population. The number of articles published increased from 72 in the biennium 1991-1992 to 442 in the biennium 2000-2001. Spanish production rose by 514%, as compared with a median increase of 149% in the other EU countries. Spain was the first producer of articles from the EU in four journals: Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease (27.6%), European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (24.8%), American Journal of Infection Control (21.8%) and Microbial Drug Resistance (17.5%)., Conclusions: Spanish scientific production in infectious diseases has increased substantially in the period 1991-2001.

This paper presents the first systematic analysis of the textual tradition of the Practica summaria attributed to Arnau de Vilanova. Its textual tradition, together with the evidence of expounded previously by other scholars, confirms Arnau's authorship of this work.

Objectives: To count the scientific contributions that were carried out at the Otorhinolarngology Departments in Spain from 1998 to 2002 years and to measure their scientific relevance using different bibliometrics tools., Method: Abstracts of articles located on MedLine (http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/PubMed) that have been published by Otorhinolaryngology departments in Spain, by a specific designed search strategy. Papers were classified by journal type (national/international) and study design (original or clinical case). A rank of productivity per hospital was design according to the following variables: total number of articles, total number of originals and cummulative impact factor (according to the category assigned by the Journal of Citation Reports, 2000 from the Institute for Scientific Information)., Results: A total of 18,472 papers were located, being 703 papers from 116 Otorhinolaryngology departments in Spain. This represents a 4% of the world's scientific production. There were 196 international and 498 papers in Spanish journals; in addition, 439 were original articles and 265 clinical cases. The centers in Spain with the most relevant scientific productivity are: Hospital Central de Asturias, Hospital Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla, Hospital La Paz de Madrid, Hospital Santa Creu i San Pau de Barcelona, Clínica Universitaria de Navarra and Clínica Puerta de Hierro de Madrid (all of them with a cummulated impact factor in 5 years > 10).

Objective: To quantify and analyze the information available internationally on Spanish scientific productivity in anesthesiology from 1983 through 1995., Material: Publications by Spanish authors indexed in three electronic databases: the Spanish Indice Médico (SIM), MedLine, and Embase (belonging to Excerpta Médica)., Method: A bibliometric study of productivity as reflected by entries in the 3 databases, quantifying documents in circulation, change over time in circulating documents, overlap, and article's characteristics., Results: During the period studied, a total of 2608 papers by Spanish anesthesiologists were indexed in the 3 databases (SIM 79%, Medline 54%, Excerpta Médica 29.5%). Annual growth was 16.7%, with a period of 10.2 years until duplication., Conclusion: Growth is exponential in anesthesiology, as in other disciplines, and the distribution satisfies Price's law. The 3 databases are the major collectors of the papers of Spanish anesthesiologists. The SIM and MedLine are the main indexers of Spanish-authored articles in the literature. Excerpta presents the largest growth on the compilation of articles. The inclusion of the three databases is essential in bibliographic searches and bibliometric studies on Spanish anesthesiology.

Objective: The goal of our study is to establish the publishing percentage of reports accepted in congresses of Sociedad Española de Farmacia Hospitalaria held during the years 1996-98., Methods: Any paper in a journal indexed within Indice Médico Español., Results: From a total of 638 reports, 35 corresponding to the 1998 congress (15.6%), 27 to the 1997 congress (13.4%) and 30 to the 1996 congress (15.6%) were later published. Only 3.4% of the aforementioned 638 reports were published in journals indexed in Index Medicus., Conclusions: Percentages found were noticeably lower than those of other medical groups (41%), but higher than those found for the American Society of Health Pharmacists Congress, held in 1994 (11%). Published reports only rarely show up in journals indexed in Index Medicus. Such scarce widespreading of studies takes relevant information away from both the scientific and clinical communities, and introduces publication biases for systematic reviews. The recent inclusion of our journal "Farmacia Hospitalaria" in Medline will notably increase paper spreading.

Background: To analyze the research output of Spanish authors on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection/AIDS., Methods: Papers published over 1991-1999 which were recorder in the MedLine database (CD-ROM) were selected by using the key words Spain or Espana in the address of author field and HIV, AIDS, VIH or sida in any field. Papers were analyzed according to publication journal specialty of authors, subjecte matter of the paper, institution, center of origin and geographical distribution., Results: A total of 2,065 papers were studied. Their number doubled, from 148 in 1991 to 295 in 1999 (r = 0.917; p < 0.0001). The number of papers published in foreign journals trebled, from 51 to 182 (r = 0.933; p < 0.001). The journal with the highest number o papers published was Medicina Clínica: 241 (11.7%). Although the main topic was the clinical manifestations of HIV infection (64.6%), the proportion of papers on this subject decreased from 71.4% in 1991-93 to 58.3% in 1997-99 (p < 0.001). On the other hand, the percentage of articles on antiretroviral therapy increased from 3.6% in 1991-93 to 12.4% in 1997-99 (p < 0.001). The greatest number of contributions came from hospitals (79.8% of papers), followed by universities (9.5%). Centers with the highest output were the Hospital Clínic (Barcelona) (5.7%) and the Hospital Carlos III (Madrid) (5.5%). The Autonomous Communities of Madrid (33.1%) and Catalonia (25.3%) concentrated more than half of the total output, followed by Andalusia (11.5%) and the Valencian Community (8.1%)., Conclusions: Spanish output on HIV infection/AIDS research grew during the 1991-1999 period. There was a remarkable increase in the papers published in foreign journals. Moreover, topics changed according to the epidemiological changes observed in HIV infection during the past decade.

Background: A relevant increase in the clinical relevance of respiratory system area has occurred in the last few years. The aims of this study were: to analyze the evolution of production and impact of Spanish scientific activity in the respiratory system area between 1987 to 1998; and to assess the participation of the different Spanish autonomic communities in this activity., Methods: Papers published in 38 international journals of respiratory system during this period of time were selected by the MedLine system, delimiting Spanish production. Geographical and institutional distribution of the production, specialist of authors, main publication journals and type of publication were recorded. Production and impact bibliometric indicators were estimated., Results: The number of Spanish documents from 1987 to 1998 multiplied by eight, reaching the 1.49% of the total published documents in 1998. However, the growth model of scientific production during this period was lineal. The increase in the scientific production was associated with a increase over time in the expected impact factor. In 1998, expected impact factor was 2. 206. Forty-two percent of the papers were signed by pneumologists. The highest contributor were hospitals. The most productive autonomous communities were Catalonia, Cantabria and Madrid. The communities with the highest expected impact factor were Balears and Catalonia., Conclusions: A relevant increase has occurred in the scientific production and impact of Spanish biomedical activity in respiratory system area.

Background: To identify the Spanish scientific production amongst different areas of clinical knowledge, and to compare it with those of five other European Union countries., Method: Review of MEDLINE data base, for the period 1993-1997. Search limited to four journals, selected, for 10 different medical specialties (Cardiology, Endocrinology, Infectious Diseases, Gastroenterology-Hepatology, Haematology, Nephrology, Pneumology, Neurology, Oncology, Rheumatology). Articles published by authors from Germany, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. Journals included in the Internal Medicine subject classification were independently analysed. Data were also related with several econometric indexes., Results: A total of 1,763 original articles published by Spanish authors were identified in the journal's sample over the analysed period (2.08 articles per 100 all published articles). Spain contributes to the total achieved by the six European countries analysed with 9.07 articles per 100 published articles. Gastroenterology-Hepatology was the medical specially which has more articles published by Spanish authors (total: 338 articles; 4.15 articles/100 published articles); and Oncology the one with less articles published (1.26 articles/100 published articles). The mean IF value per journal by article is highest for Gastroenterology-Hepatology (4.86 FI/article) and lowest for Pneumology (2.42 FI/article). Spain is the last amongst all six European countries analyzed in Endocrinology, Oncology and Haematology, and second to last in all others except for Gastroenterology-Hepatology (4th place). Mean cost for each article produced by Spanish authors in the analyzed sample was 0.49 US $ according the health expenditures per capita, and 0.07 US $ according the R+D expenditures per capita. Data from the independent analysis of Internal Medicine journals also showed that Gastroenterology and Hepatology is the subspecialty with a higher number of papers published in those journals., Conclusions: All efforts devoted to improve the quality of Spanish biomedical research, specially in clinical research, had produced positive, but uneven, results, measured by the number and impact factor of original articles published in top ranked biomedical journals. The overall distribution of high impact factor scientific production by specialties is poor when compared to the European Union countries included in the analysis. Those results showed several improvement opportunities. Besides increasing the overall budget for R+D, its is likely that the time has come for backing the highest quality Spanish biomedical research, the one that offers greater and better chances for achieving scientifically valid results, and is published in high impact factor biomedical journals.

Background: In 1993 a first study on the scientific production of Spain in 1986-1989 on Biomedicine and Health Sciences, through the Science Citation Index (SCI) was published. The analysis attained the level of centres, with special emphasis in those related to the Health Care System. This paper analyses the period 1990-1993, offers a wider coverage including the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) database, and compares both time periods., Material and Methods: Documents indexed by SCI and SSCI, CD-ROM version, with at least one Spanish address, published in biomedical and medical journals during the years 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993, have been studied. Quantitative and qualitative bibliometric indicators for the analysis by subject matter, geographic distribution, institutional sector and centre of origin have been used. Global data were also analysed according to economic and human resources., Results: A total of 21,434 documents were studied, of which 67.9% were journal articles. The highest contributors were Universities (48.8% of the documents) and Hospitals (45.3%). The autonomous communities of Madrid (31.9%) and Catalonia (26.9%) concentrate more than half the production-developed principally by hospitals-followed by Andalucía (11.7%) and C. Valenciana (7.8%). The most active disciplines were biochemistry/molecular biology (13%), neurosciences/neurology (8.4%), pharmacology/pharmacy (8.4%) and medicine, general/internal (7.9%). Comparing the results with period 1986-1989, some of the differences observed could be explained by the fact of MEDICINA CLINICA being included in SCI since 1992. An increase in the number of citable items (72.9%), number of journals used (from 1,086 to 1,346) and international cooperation rate (13.5% to 18.3%) was detected. The institutional sectors with the highest growth rate were Hospitals (92.9%) and Consejo Superior de investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) (119.3%). Scientific production and visibility of publications (measured as impact factor of journals used) grew in most disciplines, being the quantitative increase greater in cancer/oncology, gastroenterology/hepatology, genetics/heredity and cardiovascular system. No substantial changes as to geographic distribution of documents or most active centres were observed., Conclusions: Spanish scientific activity grew steadily every year and its visibility improved, being the Health sector one of the main actors. When comparing both four-year period. Spain moved up from the seventh to the sixth position in the ranking of EU countries according to its scientific output in biomedicine and health sciences.

Objective: To study the number of authors of papers published in Actas Urologicas Españolas, and to assess the consequences on multiple authorship of the restriction to 6 of the number of authors for paper, established in the instructions for authors since January 1995., Methods: The authors and papers appearing on sections "Originals". "Reviews" and "Case reports" from 1992 to 1995, were counted., Results: Five hundred and forty eight papers were reviewed. The mean (+/- standard deviation) number of authors (6.1 +/- 2; 95% IC = 5.9-6.3) didn't show a statistically significant change between the 4 studied years (ANOVA, F = 1.42; p = 0.23). Fifty percent of the Originals and Reviews and 36% of Case reports had more than 6 authors and these proportions didn't change significantly between years (chi 2 = 3.48; p = 0.32), even considering that more than one third of papers published in 1995 were accepted that year., Conclusions: A great number of authors should modify their habits of co-authorship on papers submitted to Actas Urologicas Españolas, in order to fulfill the new instructions for authors.

Background: Reasons for the quantitative study of the Spanish publications on AIDS are both the huge volume attained by the printed material on the subject since the first case was described in 1981 by the Center for Disease Control, and the high incidence of the cases reported on this disease., Methodology: Searches have been performed on the subject through the database of the Indice Médico Español (IME), the Indice Español de Ciencia y Technología (ICYT), the ISBN and Bibliografía Española in order to retrieve all possible Spanish journal papers' and books. The references were distributed using criteria of documentary tipology, publication date, institutions involved, autonomous communities, and, finally, after its relation with the confirmed cases of AIDS., Results: A total 2,013 items have been retrieved, 1,821 journal papers' and 192 books. More than 50% of the papers are published only by five journals, being 139 the total number of journals able to carry pertinent information. The most productive journals were Medicina Clínica and Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica., Conclusions: The results confirm exponential growth of the publications from 1983, the first year when a paper was published on AIDS in Spain. The grow is similar to the tend observed in other countries. Parallelism has been detected between growth in the number of publications and in the number of journals publishing on the subject, the growth in the number of journals publishing on the subject, the growth in the number of institutions which collaborate and the growing tend of reported cases in Spain. The results of the bibliometric study, showing an epidemiological growth out of comparison in the history of the scientific literature, could be useful both to information scientists, and to the research inside this scientific field.

Background: The investigation of drug dependency has been strengthened in the last few years in Spain. One indicator of the scientific production in one area is constituted by the analysis of the studies included in data bases., Methods: The Spanish publications in the field of drug dependency from 1985-1990 were reviewed. The references of studies published by Spanish authors collected in MEDLINE with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) corresponding to Substance abuse or Substance dependence were selected. The following studies were collected a) those in which Spain was reported as the country of the author; b) published in Spanish journals; c) those in which Spain was indicated as the MeSH; b) and c) were not included if the publications did not correspond to Spanish authors., Results: Three hundred thirty-one references were collected; 273 corresponded to Substance dependence and 58 to Substance abuse. The two themes most frequently studied were dependent on heroin (n = 99) and alcoholism (n = 94). Most studies were done in universities, mainly in schools of Medicine. Forty-three percent of the papers were signed by three or four authors. There were 1,044 authors; 844 (81%) authors published one article and 9 published seven or more. Twenty-three percent of the articles were published in 1988 and 20% in 1989. Three hundred thirty-one studies were published in 78 journals. Sixty percent of the journals published one article and 17% two. The journal which published the most articles were Medicina Clínica (n = 112), and Revista Clínica Española (n = 40). The foreign journal which published the most articles was Drug and Alcohol Dependence (n = 11). Twenty-nine articles were published in 7 of the journals with greatest impact factor in this area., Conclusions: These results confirm the tendency observed in other studies and indicate the increase in the quantity and quality of the Spanish publications on drug dependence.

This paper reviews the circumstances surrounding the first prize given in Barcelona in 1849 for a report on anesthesia. The two winning studies by the Barcelona physicians Emilio Pi y Molist and José Antonio Reynés are summarized, evaluated and compared with other similar contemporary works.