Thirteen Years of Scientific Production on Medline by Spine Surgeons in Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia

Abstract

Introduction Articles published on spine pathologies have been very useful, providing important information to improve diagnosis and choice of treatment. This information is even more important when it comes from the different continents, because it shows that information can be provided and applied by physicians worldwide to solve medical problems encountered daily. Materials and Methods A literature search of publications by spinal surgeons in Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia on topics concerning the spine or spinal cord was performed using an online database; Pubmed.gov. The results were limited to articles published from January 2000 to December 2013. The variables studied were year of publication, scientific journal that published the papers, neurosurgical or orthopedic department where the study was done, the type of study, the main pathology studied, the Oxford classification, the journal impact factor (IF), and the type of articles that were entered on Excel sheet. Results A total of 43,711 articles were identified after the MEDLINE search. Most of the articles were excluded based on information provided in the title and abstract. This study comprised 5,846 articles published in the Medline database by Latin America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia spine surgeons from 2000 to 2013. During this period, 5,102 articles were published in Asia, 410 in Latin America, 138 in Africa, and 79 in Oceania. There was a correlation between the number of publications and the articles classified at the Oxford level of evidence 1, 2, and 3 with significant results and positive association. Conclusion This study showed a growth in the number of publications in the past 13 years by spinal surgeons in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. It is necessary to discuss a way to increase quantity and quality of scientific publications, mainly by improving education in research.