Evolution of Spanish scientific production in international obstetrics and gynecology journals during the period 1986-2002.
OBJECTIVE
The present bibliometric study analyzes Spanish scientific work published in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in the most important journals during the period 1986-2002.


METHODS
The material studied (779 original documents) was selected in accordance with the science citation index (SCI) of 2001, obstetrics and gynecology section, using the EMBASE: Obstetrics and Gynecology database. We applied the customary rules of bibliometrics: Price's Law of increase in scientific literature, Bradford's Law of scattering of scientific literature and Lotka's Law of author productivity. Furthermore, we analyzed participation index (PaI), the collaboration index and the superior (%SUP).


RESULTS
The material studied is closer to an exponential adjustment (r = 0.958) than to a linear adjustment (r = 0.856). The journal with the largest number of originals is Human Reproduction (Bradford's first area), with 217 articles and that with the highest PaI is Menopause (4.07). The total number of authors is 1829, who are responsible for 3938 authorships (2.79% of the authors have a productivity index (PI) > or = 1 and 70.09% have a PI = 0). The majority of the studies were carried out in hospitals (47.62%) and universities (23.36%).


CONCLUSIONS
Spanish productivity in the field of obstetrics and gynecology increased considerably in the period 1986-2002.
García-García
Pilar
P
Pharmacology Department, University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain. pigarcia@juste.net
López-Muñoz
Francisco
F
Callejo
Justo
J
Martín-Agueda
Belén
B
Alamo
Cecilio
C
D015706:Bibliometrics; D006176:Gynecology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D009774:Obstetrics; D013030:Spain