Bibliometric analysis of publications of Spanish pharmacologists in the SCI (1984–89)

Abstract

The present study is a bibliometric analysis, of publications of Spanish pharmacologists, referenced in the journals of the Pharmacology & Pharmacy subfield of the Science Citation Index- CD Edition from 1984 to 1989. During this time the scientific output of Spanish pharmacologists has been growing at an impressive rate being almost doubled. This rate being notably greater than that corresponding to publications of Spain in all science fields. This increase in scientific output was accompanied by a time-dependent decrease on year by year step basis in the expected impact factor (EIF) of publications (Articles plus Notes), from 1.71 in 1984 to 1.28 in 1989, in close correlation with an increase of mean number of authors per paper, from 3.67 to 4.16 authors/paper, respectively. Moreover, the larger the number of authors/paper, the smaller the EIF. Only 8 journals cumulated more than 50% of the papers. The scientific production was geographically localized at a high extent (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia accounted for the 63.7% of all the papers) in governmental institutions (University, 75.2%, Hospitals, 14.1%; CSIC, 10.5%) with one large geographical area lacking any productivity.