Comparison of Brazilian researchers in clinical medicine: are criteria for ranking well-adjusted?

Abstract

Quantifying the relative performance of individual scholars has become an integral part of decision-making in research policy. The objective of the present study was to evaluate if the scholarship rank of Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) researchers in Medicine is consistent with their scientific productivity. The Lattes curricula of 411 researchers (2006)(2007)(2008) were included in the study. Scholarship category was the variable of interest. Other variables analyzed were: time since receiving the doctorate, teaching activity (undergraduate, master's and doctoral students), number of articles published, and number of papers indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and Scopus databases. Additional performance indicators included were: citations, h-index, and m-index. There was a significant difference among scholarship categories regarding number of papers per year, considering the entire scientific career (P \ 0.001) or the last 5 years (P \ 0.001). There was no significant difference among scholarship categories regarding the number of citations per article in the ISI (Thomson Reuters) database (P = 0.23). There was a significant difference in h-index among scholarship categories in both databases, i.e. (P \ 0.001) and Scopus (P \ 0.001). Regarding the m-index, there was a significant difference among categories only in the ISI database (P = 0.012). According to our findings, a better instrument for qualitative and quantitative indicators is needed to identify researchers with outstanding scientific output.

Profile and scientific production of the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) researchers in the field of Hematology/Oncology

“…The median for the M-index was slightly lower than the median of 0.62 previously described for total of 411 researchers in Clinical Medicine. 13 concluSIon In this study, it was noted that CNPq researchers in the field of Hematology/Oncology have a relevant scientific output from the point of view of quantity and quality, superior in several criteria compared to that presented by other medical specialties. Conclusão: na presente investigação, observou-se que os pesquisadores na área de Hematologia-Oncologia apresentam uma produção científica relevante do ponto de vista qualitativo quando comparada a das demais especialidades médicas.…”

“…The Academic CVs were used to build a database with information relating to the distribution of grants by category (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and category 2), 13 geographic and institution distribution, researchers' time after doctorate, scientific production (scientific articles) and guidance of human resources (supervision of undergraduates, masters and doctorates). To analyze scientific production, all publications and supervision during the researcher's career and the last five years of the period under study were included.…”

On the Criteria for Receiving a Research Productivity Fellowship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development in Mathematics and Statistics

“…The profile and the scientific production of research productivity fellows in various areas of knowledge, including communication science [11], medicine [2,7,6,9], chemistry [8], and zoology [10], have been investigated in the last years. However, as far as we know, there is no study concerning the profile and the production of PQ fellows in the field of mathematics (including applied mathematics).…”

A Co-authorship network analysis of CNPq’s productivity research fellows in the probability and statistic area

“…The authors sought to investigate faculty characteristics such as research interest, CNPq's productivity grants, publication, and the distribution of these characteristics according to Brazilian's regions and gender. Oliveira et al (2012) analyzed if the CNPq's fellows rank in medicine is consistent with researchers' productivity.…”