Evaluation of the Scientific Production in Portuguese Medical Schools

Introduction In the last years, specialists and governmental authorities interest for scientific production quantitative indicators has been increasing. These indicators not only help scientifical and technological dynamics understanding but can also work as tools for political engineering and decision making in this area.[1] The number of articles published in scientific journals is an indicator of scientific production. [1] SANTOS,Raimundo - Revista Digital de Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, Campinas, v. 1, n. 1, p , jul./dez – ISSN: X

Scientific production has been increasing in the last years: Graffic 1- Annual evolution of the portuguese scientific publications´ number on Science Citation Index (totals and with foreign’s co-authorship). Source: ISI – Web of Knowledge

The most efficient and reliable way to report investigation results and to look up for bibliographic information is to use index journals.[2] Indexed journals are available in reference databases like ISI (Information Sciences Institute). ´Many factors are taken into account when evaluating journals for coverage, ranging from the qualitative to the quantitative. The journal's basic publishing standards, its editorial content, the international diversity of its authorship, and the citation data associated with it are all considered. None of the factors is considered in isolation, but by combining and interrelating the data, the editor is able to determine the journal's overall strengths and weaknesses´.[3] By seeking information from ISI the reader has access not only to the title, but also to its author, the impact factor of the magazine in which it was published, even not having access to that magazine. [2] COIMBRA JR., Carlos E. A. Scientific production in public health and the international literature bases. Cad. Saúde Pública. 1999, vol. 15, no. 4, pp [3]

‘The impact factor is perhaps the most popular bibliometric product currently in use. In recent years the impact factor has become a fundamental indicator to measure the international scope and diffusion of academic journals. Although different authors have suggested alternatives to the impact factor it seems that its use is widespread, and that it will continue to be used as a fundamental bibliometric indicator.´[4] [4] J. M. CAMPANARIO, L. GONZÁLEZ: Journal self-citations -Scientometrics 69 (2006)

Aims To develop an objective methodology for the research and selection of scientific articles in order to make it more reproductible as possible. To describe and compare two Portuguese Medical Schools publications during 2005 (Lisbon and Coimbra), refering to their number, authors position (1 st author, co-author or last author), magazines where they were published, their impact factor and departments.

Methods To select two portuguese medical schools; Get to know the different bibliography data bases; Choose the data base which will be used in our research, justifying this decision; The data base chosen was ISI web of knowledge, which is a virtual platform that offers, to every professional levels in the scientific and academic areas, the easier way to accomplish and manage the search through an unique access.[5] The ISI web of knowledge offers access to the leader of database of quote (Web of Science) and gathers the searched results promoting its analysis (Analyze tool).[5] [5]

Besides, it includes index and records, approximately of 7600 journals (1476 of medicine) and 2000 books, as well as virtual documents and electronic journals (Current contents connect). More than 22 million patents since 1963 from 40 international broadcast authorities (Derwent Innovations Index).[5] One of the major problems in our research was to find an appropriate query which guarantees a large and a complete number of articles because there is no standard denomination in the filiation of articles. The initial search terms were: *or Coimbra [5] -Lisbon* medical school -Lisboa* medical school -Lisbon* school of medicine -Faculty of medicine of Lisboa* -Faculty medicine Lisboa* -Faculdade de medicina de Lisboa* -Medical school, Lisbon* -Medical school, Lisboa* -Faculty of medicine, Lisboa* -School of medicine, Lisboa*

The queries that we chose were : -Lisboa or Lisbon Coimbra 2005 Create a data base to save and analyze the collected information: statistical analysis, using graphs and labels. The software used to analyse the information collected was SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), wich allows to do complex statistical calculations, to know the results in a fast way, warranting a brief presentation and interpretation of the obtained results

References [1] SANTOS,Raimundo - Revista Digital de Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, Campinas, v. 1, n. 1, p , jul./dez – ISSN: X [2] COIMBRA JR., Carlos E. A. Scientific production in public health and the international literature bases. Cad. Saúde Pública. 1999, vol. 15, no. 4, pp [3] n/ [4] Campanario, J.M. and L. Gonzalez, Journal self-citations taht contribute to the impact factor: Document labeled "editorial material" in journals covered by the Science Citation Index. Scientometrics, (2): p [5]