BackgroundCardiovascular research publications seem to be increasing in Latin America
overall.ObjectiveTo analyze trends in cardiovascular publications and their citations from
countries in Latin America between 1999 and 2008, and to compare them with those
from the rest of the countries.MethodsWe retrieved references of cardiovascular publications between 1999 and 2008 and
their five-year post-publication citations from the Web of Knowledge database. For
countries in Latin America, we calculated the total number of publications and
their citation indices (total citations divided by number of publications) by
year. We analyzed trends on publications and citation indices over time using
Poisson regression models. The analysis was repeated for Latin America as a
region, and compared with that for the rest of the countries grouped according to
economic development.ResultsBrazil (n = 6,132) had the highest number of publications in1999-2008, followed by
Argentina (n = 1,686), Mexico (n = 1,368) and Chile (n = 874). Most countries
showed an increase in publications over time, leaded by Guatemala (36.5% annually
[95%CI: 16.7%-59.7%]), Colombia (22.1% [16.3%-28.2%]), Costa Rica (18.1%
[8.1%-28.9%]) and Brazil (17.9% [16.9%-19.1%]). However, trends on citation
indices varied widely (from -33.8% to 28.4%). From 1999 to 2008, cardiovascular
publications of Latin America increased by 12.9% (12.1%-13.5%) annually. However,
the citation indices of Latin America increased 1.5% (1.3%-1.7%) annually, a lower
increase than those of all other country groups analyzed.ConclusionsAlthough the number of cardiovascular publications of Latin America increased from
1999 to 2008, trends on citation indices suggest they may have had a relatively
low impact on the research field, stressing the importance of considering quality
and dissemination on local research policies.