Publicaciones pediátricas españolas en PubMed en los años 1996 y 2001

[Spanish paediatric research in ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA: research groups and research areas (2003-2009)]

INTRODUCTION

Authorships of scientific papers are a significant milestone for researchers. Quantification of authors' contribution in research papers makes it possible to investigate patterns of research collaboration and interactions in scientific community. The objective of this paper is to analyse scientific collaboration and to identify research groups and research areas of ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Papers published in ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA between 2003 and 2009 period were selected from Medline. An author name normalization process was carried out. Productivity and scientific collaboration indexes have been determined. Research groups have been identified through co-authorships networks analysis. Thematic areas of research and major domains of research groups have been characterised by means of quantification of Medical Subject Headings terms assigned to documents.

RESULTS

An analysis was made of 1,828 documents published by 4,695 authors. The collaboration index (articles) was 5.3 ± 2.3. A total of 97 research groups consisting of between 2 and 80 researchers, which add up 415 researchers have been identified. The main diseases and medical signs studied were asthma (n = 35), multiple abnormalities (n = 28), premature diseases (n = 25), sepsis (n = 24), congenital heart defects (n = 23), respiratory insufficiency (n = 22), HIV infections (n = 21), streptococcal infections (n = 20) and gastroenteritis (n = 20).

CONCLUSIONS

ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA is one of the most productive Spanish medical journals. Author's collaboration was similar to those observed in other Spanish clinical journals included in Journal Citation Reports. A remarkable number of paediatric research groups publishing on many topics have been identified.

Evaluación de los aspectos formales de las revistas pediátricas españolas

INTRODUCTION

Standardization of scientific journals is indispensable for accurate transmission of knowledge, since it guarantees the universality and reproducibility of research. The objective of this study was to evaluate the formal elements of Spanish pediatrics journals.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In 2005, we studied the characteristics of Spanish biomedical journals with special emphasis on Spanish pediatrics journals. The form used for the selection of journals for inclusion in the database Indice Médico Español (IME) was employed to evaluate 65 distinct characteristics in each journal. The parameters were grouped in the following five categores: journal presentation, presentation of the articles, scientific and editorial committees, content characteristics, and dissemination parameters.

RESULTS

The journals with the highest overall scores were Anales de Pediatría (63 points out of a maximum of 82), followed by Pediatría de Atención Primaria (53 points), Acta Pediátrica Española and Cirugía Pediátrica (55 points each), Pediatrika (53 points), and Revista Española de Pediatría (48 points). The score obtained by Anales de Pediatría places this journal in the top 10 Spanish journals included in IME.

CONCLUSIONS

Spanish pediatrics journals meet most of the formal elements required of biomedical journals, although some aspects could be improved, such as deficiencies in the frequency and regularity of publication, mention of the dates of manuscript receipt and acceptance, the lack of a clear description of the editorial process of manuscript selection and peer review, the absence of committee members' institutional affiliations, and the absence of articles by non-Spanish authors.

Recuperación de la información científica en pediatría: una oportunidad para el Índice Médico Español

The international bibliographic databases (Medline, Embase, Current Contents, etc.) are one of the main sources of information in medicine. Because only some Spanish journals are included in these databases, knowledge and use of the Indice Médico Español (IME) is also important because this database includes almost all Spanish biomedical and scientific journals (basic, experimental and clinical), which provides certain well known advantages for authors and editors in Spain. Of the journals indexed at any given time in the IME (461 journals), those related to pediatrics constitute 5.2 % of the total (24 journals) with a total of 21,006 documents. Only 34 % of all the pediatrics documents in the IME are included in PubMed. The most productive pediatrics journals in the IME are Anales Españoles de Pediatría (8,639, plus 912 registered from 2002 as Anales de Pediatría), Revista Española de Pediatría (2,564), Acta Pediátrica Española (2,189), Archivos de Pediatría (1,365), Pediatrika (1,314), and Cirugía Pediátrica (685). Anales de Pediatría is the third most productive journal in the IME, after Medicina Clínica (13,323) and Revista Clínica Española (9,603). Overall, pediatrics is the second most productive field of research in medicine in Spain after internal medicine. A complementary tool of the IME is the hypothetical study of the national and international impact factor (IF) of Spanish biomedical journals. The hypothetical national IF of Anales de Pediatría (0.334) is noteworthy among Spanish medical journals overall and is much higher than those of Acta Pediátrica Española (0.134), Pediatrika (0.119), Cirugía Pediátrica (0.099) and Revista Española de Pediatría (0.079). The international IF of Anales de Pediatría (0.372) is higher than that of some pediatrics journals included in the Science Citation Index. The IME should be included in bibliographic search strategies for scientific information in pediatrics as a complement to international databases.

Factor de impacto nacional e internacional de ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study was to present bibliometric indicators of the impact of Anales de Pediatría in 2001 and to compare this journal with other Spanish pediatrics journals.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

A total of 5,388 bibliographic references from 1999, 2000 and 2001 corresponding to citable articles published in 2001 in a sample of 87 selected Spanish medical journals were analyzed. The indicators obtained were the number of citations, the national and international impact factor (IF) and the immediacy index.

RESULTS

The national IF of Anales de Pediatría was 0.334 and the international IF was 0.372. The immediacy index was 0.111.

DISCUSSION

This study confirms the leadership of Anales de Pediatría, since this journal is the most frequently cited Spanish pediatrics journal and has the highest IF and immediacy index. The bibliometric indicators obtained are comparable with those observed in other journals included in Journal Citation Reports.