[Spanish scientific production in obesity research published in PubMed (1988-2007)].
OBJECTIVE
To analyse Spanish scientific research output related to obesity during a 20-year period from 1988 to 2007 into context with the European Union productivity


METHODS
The bibliometric study was based on research of the MEDLINE database in PubMed. Search terms were "obesity" appearing in MeSH. Linear regression was used to estimate trends in number of publications.


RESULTS
We retrieved 50,120 documents on obesity in the study period, and 1,407 were by Spanish authors (2.7% of the world production). Spain, accounting for 8.1% of scientific output in this area, was the fifth most productive country in the European Union; 932 (69.1%) of papers were published in English. The average yearly increase in publications was 15%, from 91 documents in the first five-year period to 702 in the last five-period. The most frequent specialty of first author was endocrinology (279 documents, or 22.8%), followed by physiology-nutrition-bromatology (203, or 16.6%), and biochemistry (161, or 13.2%). Journals publishing the largest numbers of papers on obesity were Medicina Clínica (83 or 6.1%), Obesity Surgery (79 or 5.8%), International Journal of Obesity (73) and Nutricion Hospitalaria (59). The most productive regions in Spain were Cataluña (338 or 24.9%), Madrid (286 or 20,6%), and Navarra (159 or 11,7%). The most productive institutions were hospitals, with 708 titles (52.1%), followed by universities, with 521 (38.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
Obesity research in Spain has increased over the last 20 years and accounted for a substantial proportion of European Union research in this field. Half of the papers by Spanish authors were published in international non-Spanish journals. Most of papers were carried out from hospital settings and universities.
Vioque
Jesús
J
Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Campus de San Juan, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Alicante, España. vioque@umh.es
Manuel Ramos
José
J
Navarrete-Muñoz
Eva María
EM
García De La Hera
Manuela
M
D015706:Bibliometrics; D035843:Biomedical Research; D005060:Europe; D009765:Obesity; D039781:PubMed; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain; D013997:Time Factors