Proper use of medical language: Main problems and solutions. / Utilización adecuada del lenguaje médico: principales problemas y soluciones.

Medical language should be characterized by its precision, emotional neutrality and stability. The effective communication of results of scientific studies depends on compliance with current standards of drafting and style; texts with defects can hinder interest in the findings. In this study, we discuss some of the most common problems and errors in medical language, including the abuse of abbreviations and foreign words, the use of improper words, syntax errors and solecisms, the most common errors in titles and the abuse of capital letters and the gerund. Investigators have effective tools for dealing with these problems, such as quality texts, critical dictionaries of questions and difficulties with the Spanish language and various drafting and style manuals.

[Co-authorship and collaboration networks in Spanish research into multiple sclerosis (1996-2010)]. / Coautoria y redes de colaboracion en la investigacion española sobre esclerosis multiple (1996-2010).

INTRODUCTION. Scientific collaboration is vital for to the advance of knowledge and is especially important in health sciences. The aim of this study is to identify scientific collaboration indicators and co-authorship networks of researchers and Spanish institutions that publish on multiple sclerosis (MS) during the period 1996-2010. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The analyzed papers were obtained from Web of Science and Scopus international databases, and IBECS and IME national databases, applying specific search profiles in each one of them. In order to identify collaboration networks all signed papers were quantified and co-authored measures were obtained, as the different indexes, degree, intermediation and closeness. RESULTS. 1,613 articles were published in the period 1996-2010, 92% of them in collaboration. With 10 or more works signed in collaboration, 20 Spanish research groups in MS were identified. 64.23% of the papers were published in collaboration between Spanish institutions, and 33.85% were in collaboration with foreign institutions. The institutional participation analysis has identified a large network of institutional partnerships that integrates 27 institutions, with the Hospital Vall d'Hebron in a central position. International collaboration is headed by the U.S. and European countries, most notably the UK and Italy. CONCLUSION. The most collaborative authors, institutions, and work groups in Spanish research in MS have been identified. Despite these indicators that characterize the collaboration in this area, it is necessary to enhance cooperation between them, since this collaboration is positively related to the quality and impact of research and publications.

TITLE: Coautoria y redes de colaboracion en la investigacion española sobre esclerosis multiple (1996-2010).Introduccion. La colaboracion cientifica es fundamental para el avance del conocimiento y es especialmente importante en ciencias de la salud. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar los indicadores de colaboracion cientifica y las redes de coautoria de los investigadores e instituciones españolas que publican sobre esclerosis multiple (EM) durante el periodo 1996-2010. Materiales y metodos. Los trabajos objeto de estudio se han obtenido de las bases de datos internacionales Web of Science y Scopus, y nacionales IME e IBECS, aplicando perfiles de busqueda especificos en cada una de ellas. Se cuantificaron todos los trabajos firmados en coautoria y se obtuvieron como medidas del analisis estructural el grado, indice de intermediacion e indice de cercania. Resultados. Durante el periodo 1996-2010 se publicaron 1.613 articulos, de los que el 92% se realizo en colaboracion. Aplicando un umbral de 10 o mas trabajos firmados en colaboracion, se han identificado 20 grupos de investigacion españoles en EM. La mayor parte de los trabajos (64,23%) se ha publicado en colaboracion entre instituciones españolas, y el 33,85%, en colaboracion con extranjeras. El analisis de la participacion institucional ha permitido identificar un gran nucleo o red de relaciones de colaboracion institucional que integra 27 instituciones, en la que ocupa un lugar central el Hospital Vall d'Hebron. La colaboracion internacional esta encabezada por Estados Unidos y paises europeos como Reino Unido e Italia. Conclusion. A pesar de la bonanza de los indicadores de colaboracion que los caracterizan, es necesario potenciar la colaboracion entre autores, instituciones y grupos de trabajo, ya que esta se relaciona positivamente con la calidad e impacto de la investigacion y de las publicaciones medidos a traves de las citas.

[Spanish paediatric research in ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA: research groups and research areas (2003-2009)]. / La investigación pediátrica española en ANALES DE PEDIATRÍA: grupos y ámbitos temáticos (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.

[Approximation to the impact of biomedical journals in neurological sciences: study of bibliometric indicators in the Journal Citation Reports-Science Citation Index 2006]. / Aproximacion al 'impacto' de las revistas biomedicas en ciencias neurologicas: estudio de los indicadores bibliometricos en el Journal Citation Reports-Science Citation Index 2006.

INTRODUCTION: Neurological sciences form a multidisciplinary field that produces a wide range of scientific journals. The aim of this study was to perform a scientometric analysis of neurological science journals in the 2006 Journal Citation Reports-Science Citation Index (JCR-SCI) edition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We study the three areas dedicated to neurological sciences (Neurosciences, Clinical Neurology and Neuroimaging) in the 2006 JCR-SCI edition. Bibliometric indicators used are: journals, articles, citations, impact factor (IF), immediacy index, half life and journals with the greatest IF in each specialty. We also perform a special analysis of Spanish neurological journals in JCR-SCI. RESULTS: In the area of Neurosciences we find a total of 200 journals, 27.157 articles, 1.109.784 citations and an average IF of 2,446, the greatest IF belonging to Annu Rev Neurosci (28,533) and Nat Rev Neurosci (23,054); Spanish journals: Neurocirugia and Acta Esp Psiquiatr. The area of Clinical Neurology contains 147 journals, 18.114 articles, 540.364 citations and an average IF of 1,848, the greatest IF belonging to Lancet Neurol (9,479) and Ann Neurol (8,051); Spanish journals: Neurologia and Rev Neurol. The area of Neuroimaging contains 13 journals, 1.747 articles, 49.210 citations and an average IF of 1,298, the greatest IF belonging to Neuroimage (5,559) and Hum Brain Mapp (4,888). CONCLUSIONS: We found out a broad representation of neurological journals from the 6,166 journals included in the 2006 JCR-SCI edition. Bibliometric characteristics differ in accordance to the clinical (Clinical Neurology) or experimental (Neurosciences) nature of the area. Even though bibliometric indicators for the four Spanish neurological journals have gradually improve over the previous 5 years, they are still proportionally ranked low in JCR-SCI. Due to significant limitations observed in the IF, we suggest conducting its analysis from a multidimensional bibliometric perspective, and always within its contextual research area.

[Risk of exposure to cross-transmission of infections in a dialysis unit: structural analysis of a simulated epidemic model]. / Riesgo de exposición a la transmisión cruzada de infecciones en una unidad de diálisis: análisis estructural de un modelo epidémico simulado.

UNLABELLED: Several studies show that cross-transmission of germs among patients under dialysis can occur as a consequence of processes in which the dialysis machine participates. The need of vascular access and lengthy periods of extracorporeal circulation increases the vulnerability to infection from nearby microorganisms. This study is intended to analyze the structural and dynamic features of the cross-transmission network generated by the propagation of germs which are capable of contaminating the hemodialyzers. METHODS: The simulation was carried out in a Dialysis Unit equipped with 19 machines for 62 patients. One of these patients was randomly chosen and considered as a carrier of an infectious agent capable of being transmitted to other patients, by means of the shared use of the same dialysis machine. For 10 days, the patient-machine allocation couples were registered. Co-occurrence matrices were elaborated and processed with the program UCINET 6.1 for social network analysis. Graphs were designed to visualize the networks of contagion, the centrality measures were calculated and the dynamic performance of the network generated by the chaining of the successive exposures of machines and patients was studied. RESULTS: The simulation let us visualize a rapid expansion of the risk of contagion of patients and contamination of machines. In 10 days, 87,09% of patients could have been exposed to the infection, and 68,42% of the machines could have been contaminated. These figures supposes that 5,4 new patients and 1,3 new machines could be potentially exposed every day. Along the first 5 days, the daily rate of exposure for patients and machines remains relatively low (3 new exposed patients and 1,2 new exposed machines every day). But the speed with witch the risk of contagion spreads, increases drastically in the last 5 days (7,8 new exposed patients every day). The fact that each patient requires at least 3 weekly sessions of dialysis and that a different machine can be allocated to him in each session explains that the risk of exposure can spread in some few days to a lot of patients and machines. It can also explain the difficulties found by the researches in identifying the responsible source of the origin of the sero-conversion outbreaks studied by the moment. CONCLUSIONS: If a germ can be transmitted from patient to patient by means of the incidental contamination of a dialysis machine, the appearance of an infected patient in a dialysis unit generates a risk of exposition that spreads quickly among other patients. Few days after an infected patient gets a dialysis session, it cannot be ruled out that most of the patients have been exposed to contagion and most of the machines exposed to contamination.

Gender analysis of papers published in ACTAS ESPANOLAS DE PSIQUIATRIA (1999-2006).

INTRODUCTION: The governments and organizations responsible for scientific policies try to encourage equality of gender, among their priorities that of obtaining equal participation and full integration of women in all aspects of the scientific profession. The study analyzes the scientific production of women in the areas of Psychiatry by means of the bibliometric study of the papers published in ACTAS ESPANOLAS DE PSIQUIATRIA. METHOD: A total of 458 papers published from 1999- 2006 period were downloaded from the Science Citation Index-Expanded database, these including original research papers, review articles and clinical cases. A bibliometric study broken down by gender was carried out to determine the existence or inequalities between men and women regarding scientific productivity, type of document, order of author signatures, on the institutional and geographical level. RESULTS: The papers were published by 1,194 different authors. The gender of 977 authors was identified, 587 (60.08%) men and 390 (39.92%) women. The percentage of women authorship has risen from 29.92% in 1999 to 38.86% in 2006. A total of 42.92% of authors having one published article were women, while <> (those with more than nine articles) only accounted for 33%. CONCLUSION: Bibliometric studies on scientific activity provide essential information to promote gender equality. An annual increase over 1% in the number of female authors in the journal has been observed, which if it continues will lead to a parity in coming years.

[Coauthorship networks and institutional collaboration in Revista de Neurología]. / Redes de coautoría y colaboración institucional en Revista de Neurología.

INTRODUCTION: Scientific cooperation is essential for the advance of science. Bibliometrics and social network analysis offer evaluation indicators to analyse collaboration in scientific papers. The aim of this study is to characterize scientific collaboration patterns in Revista de Neurología between 2002 and 2006. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Coauthorships and institutional relationships of papers published in Revista de Neurología have been identified. Collaboration Index, the most productive authors' and institutional collaboration patterns and the types of institutional collaborations have been quantified. Also, it has been constructed the coauthorship networks and the institutional collaboration network. Networks have been identified and represented using Access and Pajek software tools. RESULTS: The Collaboration Index was 4.01. 56.54% of papers involved institutional collaboration. The collaboration between institutions of the same country prevails (52.7%), followed by collaborations between departments, services or units of the same institution (40.47%) and international collaboration (6.83%). 45 coauthorship networks involving 149 investigators with a high intensity of collaboration and a large institutional network involved 80 centres were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Revista de Neurología covers scientific production of a high number of research groups. It has been observed a positive evolution in the collaboration patterns over the time. Nevertheless, it is essential to encourage inter-regional and international collaboration.

Consumption of anabolic steroids in sport, physical activity and as a drug of abuse: an analysis of the scientific literature and areas of research.

OBJECTIVE: The consumption of anabolic steroids (AS) has been growing continuously in recent years. It has gone beyond the sports world; AS are now widely used as drugs of abuse in connection with bodybuilding. This study sets out to assess the state of scientific research in the area. DESIGN: Bibliometrics were employed to evaluate the literature retrieved from the principal relevant bibliographic databases: MEDLINE, SportDiscus, the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Sciences Citation Index. The core journals were identified along with the leading authors and research groups and their institutional affiliations. Techniques based on social network analysis were applied in order to build up a concept map of research. RESULTS: 1325 documents were retrieved. They were produced by 3131 different researchers giving a Collaboration Index of 3.32. The institutions with the most productive authors were Ball State University (Muncie, IN, USA), the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Nantes (ENVN), the Institut Municipal dInvestigació Mèdica (IMIM) (Barcelona, Spain), the Institute of Biochemistry of the German Sport University Cologne (DSHS), Iowa State University, Maastricht University and the University of Iowa. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that there has been an upward trend in the number of research projects. The sources used complemented one another, as 78.04% of the documents retrieved were unique to one source. The productivity ranking was headed by sports medicine journals, followed by journals of chemistry, physiology, endocrinology and substance abuse. Besides sporting activities, the most important research clusters were those connected with bodybuilding and with youth groups.

[Coauthorship networks and institutional collaboration in Farmacia Hospitalaria]. / Redes de coautorías y colaboración institucional en Farmacia Hospitalaria.

BACKGROUND: Scientific collaboration is necessary for the advance of science. The purpose of this study is to analyse collaboration between authors and Spanish institutions in scientific studies published in Farmacia Hospitalaria, applying methodology derived from the analysis of social networks. METHODOLOGY: The study identified pairs of authors and institutions co-authoring or co-signing the same works published in Farmacia Hospitalaria between 1998 and 2007, building collaboration networks using the TextToPajek and Networks-PAJEK programs. RESULTS: 448 articles were analysed, showing an average signature/ article index of 4.79. Applying a collaboration threshold of 3 articles, 26 clusters were formed with principal researchers being Jiménez Torres and Pérez Ruixo (n=16 co-authorships) and Ribas Sala and Codina Jané (n=15). Among the institutions, there was significant collaboration between the Complejo Hospitalario Virgen del Rocío and the Complejo Hospitalario Nuestra Señora del Valme (n=4), both in Seville, and between Hospitals Vall d'Hebrón (Barcelona), the Hospital de Navarra, and the Universitat de Barcelona (n=4). DISCUSSION: Analysis of the collaboration networks in Farmacia Hospitalaria has made it possible to identify the groups of authors and institutions in the area, as well as their relationships in terms of research and scientific publications. We propose to analyse the changes in these groups over a period of time, as well as to identify collaboration patterns in other national and international journals.

[Analysis of citations and national and international impact factor of Farmacia Hospitalaria (2001-2005)]. / Análisis de citas y factor de impacto nacional e internacional de Famacia Hospitalaria (2001-2005).

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to analyse the citation patterns and impact and immediacy indicators of the Farmacia Hospitalaria journal during the period 2001-2005. METHOD: An analysis of citations chosen from 101 Spanish health science journals was carried out in order to determine the citing and cited journals and the national and international impact and immediacy indicators. A similar methodology used by Thomson ISI in Science Citation Index (SCI) and Journal Citation Reports (JRC) was applied. RESULTS: Farmacia Hospitalaria made 1,370 citations to 316 different journals. The percentage of self-citations was 9%. The national impact factor increased from 0.178 points in 2001 to 0.663 points in 2005 while the international impact factor increased from 0.178 to 0.806 for the same period. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of citation patterns demonstrates the multidisciplinary nature of Farmacia Hospitalaria and a significant growth in the impact indicators over recent years. These indicators are higher than those of some other pharmacy journals included in Journal Citation Reports. Self-citation was not excessive and was similar to that of other journals.

Evaluation of formal quality of Spanish psychiatry journals.

INTRODUCTION: Standardization of scientific journals is a fundamental factor for a successful scientific communication, since it has repercussions on the role accomplishment of journals as research dissemination agents and expressive and representative channels of the different scientific communities. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The formal characteristics of the seven psychiatric journals included in the IME (Spanish Medical Index) database in 2006 were evaluated. A specific form was designed to evaluate the 64 different characteristics of each journal, based on the IME qualitative criteria for being included. RESULTS: Journals having the highest overall scores were Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría with 68/82 points, followed by European Journal of Psychiatry (65/82 points), Anales de Psiquiatría (58/82 points), Psiquiatría Biológica (57/82 points) and Informaciones Psiquiátricas (45/82 points). CONCLUSIONS: Spanish psychiatric journals fulfill most of the requirements, although some of them could be improved, such as failures in the regularity of the publication, the English presentation of the abstracts and the paper typology specification, indication of the reception and acceptance date and lack of a clear description of the publishing process for the selection of the manuscripts and peer review.

[Gender analysis of papers published in Revista de Neurología (2002-2006)]. / Análisis de género de los artículos publicados en Revista de Neurología durante el quinquenio 2002-2006.

INTRODUCTION: There is an ongoing interest in the society in promoting gender equality and in women integration in research activities. The purpose of this work is to identify from a gender perspective the bibliometric characteristics of articles published in Revista de Neurología journal during the 2002-2006 period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Records were obtained from Science Citation Index database of ISI-Thomson platform. The following indicators were determined, disaggregated by gender: year of publication, type of document, number and order of signatures, number of collaborators, signature/papers index and in the institutional and geographical level. RESULTS: 4527 authors were identified, 2614 (57.74%) men and 1913 (42.,26%) women. The highest women's participation took place in original articles (39.01% of signatures). 44.5% of authors with one published article were women, while 'big women producers' (those with more than 9 articles) only were 16.67%. A greater productivity in men and a greater rate of collaboration in women has been detected. CONCLUSIONS: Scientific activity studies disaggregated by gender give an essential information in order to establish the basis of a scientific policy for promoting the woman as researcher. The evolution in the number of female authors in Revista de Neurología journal does not present an aiming growth to reach the parity in the next years. A low presence of women in positions of high productivity has been detected, whose causes should be identified.

[Evaluation of formal elements of Spanish pediatrics journals]. / 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.

[Spanish versus English as a language of publication and impact factor of Neurologia]. / Español frente a inglés como idioma de publicación y factor de impacto de Neurologia.

Although the English language is considered nowadays as the international language of medical publications, some important Spanish journals with impact factor in the Journal Citation Reports as Neurologia, they bet for the publication in Spanish. Neurologia is the official publication of the Sociedad Española de Neurología and there is the conviction that you can have a Spanish language journal with a high quality and a strong impact. Its presence in the most important international data bases and the possibility of free access to its contents through Internet guarantees its proper diffusion around the world. From the point of view of citation, the repercussion of the language for Neurologia, is reflected in the fact that the 46,8 % of the citations that receive are from journals that are published in Spanish. The main factor to improve the impact of the journal is the quality of their papers, as well as the fulfillment of the international rules about periodical publications, the punctuality in its edition and distribution, the presence in national and international bibliographical data bases, its free diffusion in Internet, the training of its researchers and their sensitivity to consult and cite articles that have been published in quality Spanish journals, when necessary.

Cross cultural adaptation of the Injection Drug User Quality Of Life Scale (IDUQOL) in Spanish drug dependent population, with or without injectable consumption: Drug User Quality of Life Scale-Spanish (DUQOL-Spanish).

The Injection Drug User Quality of life Scale (IDUQOL) measures the unique and individual circumstances that determine the quality of life of injection drug users. This paper reports the psychometric properties of the Spanish version, for drug dependent persons with or without injectable consumption using a revised instrument: Drug user Quality of Life Scale-Spanish (DUQOL-Spanish). We studied 169 outpatients in 9 Spanish drug treatment centers. Factor analysis, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and criterion-related validity were assessed. The results show the essential unidimensionality of the scale, which supports the use of a total score. Both internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.86), and test-retest reliability (r=0.79) of the total score were high. Criterion-related validity supports the interpretation of the DUQOL-Spanish total score as measuring a construct consistent with quality of life. This study suggests that the DUQOL-Spanish is a valid instrument to measure subjective quality of life in Spanish drug users, and allows the identification of life areas that are considered by the patient important to change in order to improve their quality of life.

[Characterization of the leadership subject areas in the respiratory field in Spain]. / Caracterización de las áreas de sistema respiratorio en España.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to characterize the leading topics in respiratory system in Spain through a bibliometric analysis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: For identify and characterize the performance of the different research topics in respiratory system in Spain, we compile the production using a journal that turn out representative of a broad group of researcher. In this sense the journal Archivos de Bronconeumología is the most important publication in Spanish language of this field. RESULTS: A total of 2198 articles published in Archivos Bronconeumología from 1970 to 2000 were analyzed. In each three decades, we did not found differences except in the productivity index in oncology in the eighty decade and in respiratory failure and sleep disturbance (RFSD) and oncology areas in the ninetieth decade and in the Price index (consumption indicators) in the diagnostic and therapeutic techniques area in seventy decade. When we compare the productivity index of each subject areas between decades, we found a significant production increase in the ninetieth decade in asthma, RFSD, tuberculosis, non tuberculosis infection, circulation, oncology, pleural disease and interstitial areas versus the same in seventy decade, and also, we found significant differences between ninetieth and eighty decades in the asthma, RFSD, non tuberculosis infection, circulation and pleural disease areas. Tuberculosis area maintains an insularity index higher than the other areas. We also found a progressive increase in the insularity index of RFSD, non tuberculosis infection, oncology and interstitial disease areas. CONCLUSIONS: In general all the indicators maintains stable although the more productivity topics were respiratory failure and sleep disturbances, and oncology. The productivity has increased in asthma, respiratory failure and sleep disturbances, tuberculosis, non - tuberculosis respiratory infections, oncology, pulmonary circulation, pleura and interstitial disease.

[Archivos de Bronconeumología: among the 3 Spanish medical journals with the highest national impact factors]. / Archivos de Bronconeumología: una de las 3 revistas médicas españolas con mayor factor de impacto nacional.

OBJECTIVE: Citation analysis elucidates patterns of information consumption within professional communities. The aim of this study was to analyze the citations of 87 Spanish medical journals by calculating their impact factors and immediacy indices for 2001, and to estimate the importance of Archivos de Bronconeumología within the framework of Spanish medicine. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Eighty-seven Spanish medical journals were included. All were listed in the Spanish Medical Index (Indice Medico Español) and in at least one of the following databases: MEDLINE, BIOSIS, EMBASE, or Science Citation Index. References to articles from 1999 through 2001 in citable articles from 2001 were analyzed. Using the method of the Institute for Scientific Information, we calculated the national impact factor and immediacy index for each journal. RESULTS: The journals with the highest national impact factors were Revista Española de Quimioterapia (0.894), Medicina Clínica (0.89), and Archivos de Bronconeumología (0.732). The self-citation percentage of Archivos de Bronconeumología was 18.3% and the immediacy index was 0.033. CONCLUSIONS: The impact factor obtained by Archivos de Bronconeumología confirms its importance in Spanish medicine and validates its inclusion as a source journal in Science Citation Index and Journal Citation Report.

[National and international impact factor of Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría]. / Factor de impacto nacional e internacional de Actas Españolas de Psiquiatría.

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.

[National and international impact factor of Anales de Pediatría]. / 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.