Public health research in Latin America and the Caribbean: a bibliometric analysis of the literature

摘要

The purpose of the study was to establish a quantitative analysis of the literature production on public health research in the Latin American and Caribbean regions for the period 1980-2002. A free-text literature search was conducted in LILACS-SP (The Pan American Health Organisation' Latin American and Caribbean Health Literature Database on Public Health) to identify the literature distribution by country. Microsoft Excel (2000) and Bibexcel (2001) were used to analyse the following: (a) production distribution throughout the period of study; (b) distribution by type of documents; and (c) subject content of documents. Twelve countries out of 38, producing from one to five thousand documents each, were selected. This approach excluded Brazil, with over 11,000 (27.30%) records. Selected countries were Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Panama; Ecuador, Cuba, and Nicaragua. These countries produced 24,737 (59.46%) documents for the period of study. Results indicated a consolidation of the literature production in the late 1990s. Main documents corresponded to journal articles (44.48%); books or technical reports (27.07%); and conference papers (14.67%). Salud Publica Mex was the leading journal in the field, with 935 (08.50%) records. A broad pattern of the content of public health research in the regions was found. This was characterized by studies related mainly to health services, mortality, and health policy issues. Such studies involved mainly adult females and males. Most of these studies were conducted in and related to Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. Further lines of research are described by the author.