Cunha-Melo, JR; Santos, GC; Andrade, MV Brazilian medical publications: citation patterns for Brazilian-edited and non-Brazilian literature BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 39 (8): 997-1002 AUG 2006

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: jrcmelo at medicina.ufmg.br 

Author(s): Cunha-Melo, JR (Cunha-Melo, J. R.); Santos, GC (Santos, G. C.); 
Andrade, MV (Andrade, M. V.) 

Title: Brazilian medical publications: citation patterns for Brazilian-
edited and non-Brazilian literature
 
Source: BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 39 (8): 997-
1002 AUG 2006 

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Author Keywords: Brazilian medical journals; bibliometrics; citation 
patterns; Brazilian scientific journals 

Keywords Plus: JOURNALS; LANGUAGE; ENGLISH; PUBLISH 

Abstract: Today, the quality of a scientific article depends on the 
periodical in which it is published and on the number of times the article 
is cited in the literature. In Brazil, the criteria for the evaluation of 
this scientific production are improving. However, there is still some 
resistance, with authors arguing that Brazilian publications must be 
preferentially addressed to the national readers and, therefore, they 
should ideally be written in Portuguese. In order to determine the kind of 
scientific journals cited in the reference lists of articles published in 
medical periodicals edited in Brazil, in the present study we determine 
the rate of Portuguese/English citations. Three issues of 43 periodicals 
(19 indexed in SciELO, 10 in PubMed, 10 in LILACS, and 4 in the ISI-
Thompson base) of different medical specialties were analyzed, and the 
number of both Portuguese and English citations in the reference list of 
each article was recorded. The results showed that in Brazilian-edited 
journals the mean number of citations/article was 20.9 +/- 6.9 and the 
percentage of citations of international non-Brazilian periodicals was 
86.0 +/- 11.2%. Of the latter, 94.4 +/- 7.0 are indexed by ISI-Thompson. 
Therefore, we conclude that Brazilian medical scientists cite the 
international non-Brazilian periodicals more than the national journals, 
and most of the cited papers are indexed by ISI-Thompson. 

Addresses: Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Fac Med, Dept Cirurgia, Belo Horizonte, 
MG, Brazil; Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Fac Med, Dept Clin Med, Belo Horizonte, 
MG, Brazil 

Reprint Address: Cunha-Melo, JR, Rua Groenlandia 212-1001, BR-30320060 
Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
 
E-mail Address: jrcmelo at medicina.ufmg.br 

Cited Reference Count: 8 

Times Cited: 1 

Publisher: ASSOC BRAS DIVULG CIENTIFICA 

Publisher Address: FACULDADE MEDICINA, SALA 21, 14049 RIBEIRAO PRETO, SAO 
PAULO, BRAZIL 

ISSN: 0100-879X 

29-char Source Abbrev.: BRAZ J MED BIOL RES 

ISO Source Abbrev.: Brazilian J. Med. Biol. Res. 

Source Item Page Count: 6 

Subject Category: Biology; Medicine, Research & Experimental 

ISI Document Delivery No.: 076DJ 

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