[Hierarchical structure of authors collaboration. An analysis of papers on imaging diagnosis published by hospital radiology departments in Comunidad Valenciana (1994-2001)].

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 <<residents + adjunct physicians>> 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.