THE EXTENT OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AUTHORSHIP OF ARTICLES ON SCIENTOMETRICS AND BIBLIOMETRICS IN BRAZIL

The publications in scientometrics and bibliometrics with Brazilian authorship expanded exponentially in the 1990-2006 period, reaching 13 times in the Web of Science database and 19.5 times in the Google Scholar database. This increase is rather superior to that of the total Brazilian scientific production in the same time period (5.6 times in the Web of Science). Some characteristics to be noticed in this rise are: 1) The total number of articles during this period was 197; in that, 78% were published in 57 Brazilian journals and 22% in 13 international journals. 2) The national and international articles averaged 4.3 and 5.9 citations/article, respectively; two journals stood out among these, the national Ciencia da Informacao (44 articles averaging 6.7 citations/article) and the international Scientometrics (32 articles averaging 6.2 citations/article). 3) The articles encompass an impressive participation of authors from areas other than information science; only one-fourth of the authors are bound to the information science field, the remaining ones being distributed among the areas of humanities/business administration, biology/biomedicine, health and hard sciences. The occurrence of adventitious authors at this level of multidisciplinarity is uncommon in science. However, the possible benefits of such patterns are not clear in view of a fragmented intercommunication among the authors, as noticed through the citations. The advantages of changing this trend and of using other scientometric and bibliometric databases, such as SciELO, to avoid an almost exclusive use of the Web of Science database, are discussed.

A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of reports of clinical trials published in six Brazilian dental journals indexed in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO)

Introduction: Open access publishing is becoming increasingly popular within the biomedical sciences. SciELO, the Scientific Electronic Library Online, is a digital library covering a selected collection of Brazilian scientific journals many of which provide open access to full-text articles. This library includes a number of dental journals some of which may include reports of clinical trials in English, Portuguese and/or Spanish. Thus, SciELO could play an important role as a source of evidence for dental healthcare interventions especially if it yields a sizeable number of high quality reports. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify reports of clinical trials by handsearching of dental journals that are accessible through SciELO, and to assess the overall quality of these reports. Material and methods: Electronic versions of six Brazilian dental Journals indexed in SciELO were handsearched at www.scielo.br in September 2008. Reports of clinical trials were identified and classified as controlled clinical trials (CCTs - prospective, experimental studies comparing 2 or more healthcare interventions in human beings) or randomized controlled trials (RCTs - a random allocation method is clearly reported), according to Cochrane eligibility criteria. Criteria to assess methodological quality included: method of randomization, concealment of treatment allocation, blinded outcome assessment, handling of withdrawals and losses and whether an intention-to-treat analysis had been carried out. Results: The search retrieved 33 CCTs and 43 RCTs. A majority of the reports provided no description of either the method of randomization (75.3%) or concealment of the allocation sequence (84.2%). Participants and outcome assessors were reported as blinded in only 31.2% of the reports. Withdrawals and losses were only clearly described in 6.5% of the reports and none mentioned an intention-to-treat analysis or any similar procedure. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that a substantial number of reports of trials and systematic reviews are available in the dental journals listed in SciELO, and that these could provide valuable evidence for clinical decision making. However, it is clear that the quality of a number of these reports is of some concern and that improvement in the conduct and reporting of these trials could be achieved if authors adhered to internationally accepted guidelines, e. g. the CONSORT statement.

Use of sample size calculation in scientific research in Brazilian Physical Education journals

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Alternatives exist: analysis of scientific literature in two Brazilian journals about the pedagogical work of Physical Education

Considering that the process of teacher training in universities takes into account the confrontation of knowledge produced by the scientific methods, the current study intended to identify what are the main contributions of the Brazilian scientific production of Physical Education teaching. Therefore, an exploratory study was done from the articles published on the subject in the two main periodicals of the area. The data analyzes allowed us to verify the relevancy of the knowledge produced and to suggest alternatives to its inclusion in the docent training programs.

THE SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL CARE CENTERS

The objective of this study was to present a panoramic view of the scientific production regarding Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPS). This literature review was performed using the LILACS, MEDLINE, and SciELO databases. Sixty-eight references were selected, most of which were journal articles (88.24%) and studies related to final graduate study essays (10.29%); 75% of the references found dating from 2003 were included. The following are highlighted among the most frequent objectives: the analysis and evaluation of the new proposal for mental health care, represented by Psychiatric Reform and by CAPS, and the analysis of mental health professionals and their expectations towards the services. The authors hope the present review will help find pathways and implications that lead to new studies and practices in the everyday work of health care services.

Lost in translation: the impact of publication language on citation frequency in the scientific dental literature

Citation metrics are commonly used as a proxy for scientific merit and relevance. Papers published in English, however, may exhibit a higher citation frequency than research articles published in other languages, though this issue has not yet been investigated from a Swiss perspective where English is not the native language.

Peer Review Processes for Transdisciplinary Articles: A Reflection on Journal's Practices

Publishing is an essential means of validation and communication of research. This is no different in transdisciplinary research, where publishing also aims at contributing to the development of society through sharing of knowledge. In the scientific world, authors need to disseminate and validate results, reflect on issues, and participate in debates. On the other hand, institutions and individuals are assessed according to their publication record – as probably the most influential of all current evaluation criteria. Occupying the space between article production and counting impact factors, journal editors and reviewers play an important role in defining and using rules to assess and improve the work submitted to them. Publishing transdisciplinary research poses specific challenges, in particular with regard to peer-review processes, as it addresses different knowledge communities with different value systems and purposes.

Editorial: Well Documented Articles Achieve More Impact

This issue offers for the first time supplementary material to articles. It consists of Excel files providing data the research is based on, calculation sheets, and optimization tools. Moreover, text files with pseudo code of algorithms and data of instances used for testing these algorithms as well as a video file with a demonstration of the use of a system in experiments are supplied for download. This material facilitates the understanding of the published articles and the replication of their findings to the benefit of scientific progress. And last but not least, such well documented articles will achieve much more impact.

A Matter of Perspective? Disentangling the Emic−Etic Debate in the Scientific Study of Religion\s

This article introduces the emic–etic debate in the scientific study of religion\s and provides a frame for the special issue’s six articles on the topic. Departing from the broader debate’s early history in the 1960s, this article contextualizes the emic–etic debate and locates its point of entry into the scientific study of religion\s in the 1980s. This article argues that in the course of the debate the insider–outsider and emic–etic complexes have become entangled. In order to facilitate an understanding of the debate, this article maintains that the emic–etic debate in the scientific study of religion\s touches upon three central dimensions (existential–political, methodologi- cal, and epistemological). In order to move toward a clearer methodological and epis- temological framework, this article furthermore proposes an iterative model that locates insider–outsider at the level of observers and emic–etic at the level of categories.

The hundred most cited articles in bariatric surgery

BACKGROUND Many studies quantitatively analyzing scientific papers have appeared in the last 2 years. Citation analysis is a commonly used bibliometric method. In spite of some limitations, it remains a good measure of the impact an article has on a specific field, specialty, or a journal. The aim of this study was to analyze the qualities and characteristics of the 100 most cited articles in the field of bariatric surgery. METHODS The Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge was used to list all bariatric surgery-related articles (BSRA) published from 1945 to 2014. The top 100 most cited BSRA in 354 surgical and high impact general journals were selected for further analysis. RESULTS Most of the articles were published in the 2000s (60%). The top 100 most cited were published in 17 of the 354 journals. Leading countries were USA followed by Canada and Australia. Most of the articles published (76%) were clinical experience articles. The most common level of evidence was IV (42%). CONCLUSIONS Many of the milestone papers in bariatric surgery have been included in this bibliometric study. A huge increase in research activity during the last decade is clearly visible in the field. It is apparent that the number of citations of an article is not related to its level of evidence; a fact that is increasingly being emphasized in surgical research.

Open Access Influence on Argentinean Scientific Community's Publishing Patterns

Este estudio tiene como objetivo estimar la influencia del acceso abierto en los patrones de publicación de la comunidad científica argentina en diferentes campos temáticos (Medicina; Física y Astronomía; Agricultura y Ciencias biológicas y Ciencias sociales y Humanidades), a partir del análisis del modelo de acceso de las revistas elegidas para comunicar los resultados de investigación en el período 2008-2010. La producción fue recogida de la base de datos SCOPUS y los modelos de acceso de las revistas determinados a partir de la consulta a las fuentes DOAJ, e-revist@s, SCielo, Redalyc, PubMed, Romeo-Sherpa y Dulcinea. Se analizó la accesibilidad real y potencial de la producción científica nacional por las vías dorada y verde, respectivamente, así como también por suscripción a través de la Biblioteca Electrónica de Ciencia y Tecnología del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva de la Nación Argentina. Los resultados muestran que en promedio, y para el conjunto de las temáticas estudiadas, el 70 de la producción científica argentina visible en SCOPUS se publica en revistas que adhieren de una u otra forma al movimiento de acceso abierto, en una relación del 27 para la vía dorada y del 43 para las que permiten el autoarchivo por la vía verde. Entre el 16 y el 30 (según las áreas temáticas) de los artículos publicados en revistas que permiten el autoarchivo se accede vía suscripción. El porcentaje de revistas sin acceso es del orden del 30 en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, y alcanza cerca del 45 en el resto de las áreas. Se concluye que Argentina presenta condiciones muy favorables para liberar un alto porcentaje de la literatura científica generada en el país bajo la modalidad del acceso abierto a través de repositorios institucionales y de mandatos para el auto-archivo, contribuyendo además a incrementar la accesibilidad y la preservación a largo plazo de la producción científica y tecnológica nacional

Scientific Production on Open Access : A Worldwide Bibliometric Analysis in the Academic and Scientific Context

This research aims to diachronically analyze the worldwide scientific production on open access, in the academic and scientific context, in order to contribute to knowledge and visualization of its main actors. As a method, bibliographical, descriptive and analytical research was used, with the contribution of bibliometric studies, especially the production indicators, scientific collaboration and indicators of thematic co-occurrence. The Scopus database was used as a source to retrieve the articles on the subject, with a resulting corpus of 1179 articles. Using Bibexcel software, frequency tables were constructed for the variables, and Pajek software was used to visualize the collaboration network and VoSViewer for the construction of the keywords' network. As for the results, the most productive researchers come from countries such as the United States, Canada, France and Spain. Journals with higher impact in the academic community have disseminated the new constructed knowledge. A collaborative network with a few subnets where co-authors are from different countries has been observed. As conclusions, this study allows identifying the themes of debates that mark the development of open access at the international level, and it is possible to state that open access is one of the new emerging and frontier fields of library and information science

Scientific Production on Open Access : A Worldwide Bibliometric Analysis in the Academic and Scientific Context

This research aims to diachronically analyze the worldwide scientific production on open access, in the academic and scientific context, in order to contribute to knowledge and visualization of its main actors. As a method, bibliographical, descriptive and analytical research was used, with the contribution of bibliometric studies, especially the production indicators, scientific collaboration and indicators of thematic co-occurrence. The Scopus database was used as a source to retrieve the articles on the subject, with a resulting corpus of 1179 articles. Using Bibexcel software, frequency tables were constructed for the variables, and Pajek software was used to visualize the collaboration network and VoSViewer for the construction of the keywords' network. As for the results, the most productive researchers come from countries such as the United States, Canada, France and Spain. Journals with higher impact in the academic community have disseminated the new constructed knowledge. A collaborative network with a few subnets where co-authors are from different countries has been observed. As conclusions, this study allows identifying the themes of debates that mark the development of open access at the international level, and it is possible to state that open access is one of the new emerging and frontier fields of library and information science

Open Access Influence on Argentinean Scientific Community's Publishing Patterns

Este estudio tiene como objetivo estimar la influencia del acceso abierto en los patrones de publicación de la comunidad científica argentina en diferentes campos temáticos (Medicina; Física y Astronomía; Agricultura y Ciencias biológicas y Ciencias sociales y Humanidades), a partir del análisis del modelo de acceso de las revistas elegidas para comunicar los resultados de investigación en el período 2008-2010. La producción fue recogida de la base de datos SCOPUS y los modelos de acceso de las revistas determinados a partir de la consulta a las fuentes DOAJ, e-revist@s, SCielo, Redalyc, PubMed, Romeo-Sherpa y Dulcinea. Se analizó la accesibilidad real y potencial de la producción científica nacional por las vías dorada y verde, respectivamente, así como también por suscripción a través de la Biblioteca Electrónica de Ciencia y Tecnología del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva de la Nación Argentina. Los resultados muestran que en promedio, y para el conjunto de las temáticas estudiadas, el 70 de la producción científica argentina visible en SCOPUS se publica en revistas que adhieren de una u otra forma al movimiento de acceso abierto, en una relación del 27 para la vía dorada y del 43 para las que permiten el autoarchivo por la vía verde. Entre el 16 y el 30 (según las áreas temáticas) de los artículos publicados en revistas que permiten el autoarchivo se accede vía suscripción. El porcentaje de revistas sin acceso es del orden del 30 en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, y alcanza cerca del 45 en el resto de las áreas. Se concluye que Argentina presenta condiciones muy favorables para liberar un alto porcentaje de la literatura científica generada en el país bajo la modalidad del acceso abierto a través de repositorios institucionales y de mandatos para el auto-archivo, contribuyendo además a incrementar la accesibilidad y la preservación a largo plazo de la producción científica y tecnológica nacional

Scientific Production on Open Access : A Worldwide Bibliometric Analysis in the Academic and Scientific Context

This research aims to diachronically analyze the worldwide scientific production on open access, in the academic and scientific context, in order to contribute to knowledge and visualization of its main actors. As a method, bibliographical, descriptive and analytical research was used, with the contribution of bibliometric studies, especially the production indicators, scientific collaboration and indicators of thematic co-occurrence. The Scopus database was used as a source to retrieve the articles on the subject, with a resulting corpus of 1179 articles. Using Bibexcel software, frequency tables were constructed for the variables, and Pajek software was used to visualize the collaboration network and VoSViewer for the construction of the keywords' network. As for the results, the most productive researchers come from countries such as the United States, Canada, France and Spain. Journals with higher impact in the academic community have disseminated the new constructed knowledge. A collaborative network with a few subnets where co-authors are from different countries has been observed. As conclusions, this study allows identifying the themes of debates that mark the development of open access at the international level, and it is possible to state that open access is one of the new emerging and frontier fields of library and information science