title: Identifying randomized clinical trials in Spanish-language dermatology journals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The necessary foundation for good clinical practice lies in knowledge derived from clinical research. Evidence from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) is the pillar on which decisions about therapy are based.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To search exhaustively and rigorously to identify RCTs in dermatology journals published in Spanish.
  
  
  METHODS
  We located dermatology journals through the following search engines and indexes: PubMed, LILACS, SciELO, Periódica, Latindex, Índice Médico Español, C-17, IBECS, EMBASE, and IMBIOMED. We also sought information through dermatology associations and dermatologists in countries where Spanish was the usual language of publication, and we searched the Internet (Google). Afterwards we searched the journals electronically and manually to identify RCTs in all available volumes and issues, checking from the year publication started through 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 28 journals identified, we included 21 in the search. We found a total of 144 RCTs published since 1969; 78 (54%) were in Latin American journals and 66 (46%) were in Spanish journals. The most frequent disease contexts for RCTs in Spanish journals were psoriasis, mycoses, and acne vulgaris. In Latin American journals, the most frequent disease contexts were common warts, mycoses, acne vulgaris, and skin ulcers on the lower limbs. Manual searches identified more RCTs than electronic searches.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Manual searches found a larger number of RCTs. Relatively fewer RCTs are published in Spanish and Latin American journals than in English-language journals. Internet facilitated access to full texts published by many journals; however, free open access to these texts is still unavailable and a large number of journal issues are still not posted online.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación Dermatológica (GRID), Universidad de Antioquía, Medellín, Colombia. Electronic address: sanclementegloria@gmail.com.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanclemente
authors.affiliation: Centro Cochrane Iberoamericano, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pardo
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación Dermatológica (GRID), Universidad de Antioquía, Medellín, Colombia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Centro Cochrane Iberoamericano, Institutd'InvestigacióBiomèdicaSant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, España.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bonfill
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D003880:Dermatology; D020407:Internet; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D039781:PubMed; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013030:Spain
keywords: Búsqueda manual; Dermatology journals; Ensayo clínico aleatorizado; Manual literature search; Randomized clinical trial; Revistas dermatológicas