Latin American nephrology: Scientific production and impact of the publications

Background. During the last two decades, there has been a significant chang e in the origin and impact of the world's biomedical scientific production, particularly in countries in which the investment in research accounts for an important portion of the gross national product (GNP). However, in less developed countries, budget restrictions and the lack of policies toward r esearch may determine a limited growth of the scientific production. Methods. We examined the number and impact of peer-reviewed publications fr om Latin America included in the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) and MEDLINE databases. In addition, we analyzed the number of abstracts sub mitted to the congresses of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN), American Society of Nephrology (ASN), and Latin American Society of Nephrol ogy and Hypertension (SLANH). Results. The number of peer-reviewed publications in nephrology from author s in Latin America during the last 20 years represented less than 1% of the world's total. Only 13 but of the 22 Latin American countries accounted fo r these publications. The citation impact (3.52) was below the world averag e (7.82). However, this index showed a tendency towards growth in the five most productive countries. Likewise, the number of abstracts submitted to i nternational meetings of nephrology by authors in Latin American countries has shown a steady growth in the recent years, but remains proportionately low compared with the rest of the world. Conclusions. This study indicates that although efforts toward improving th e quantity and quality of research in Latin America have been made, the fin al results are less than other regions in the world. Possible factors respo nsible for the low performance include a failure in academic motivation and lack of pressure for publication, as well as limited research funding. The refore, important efforts from local and international nephrological commun ities are needed to boost research in Latin America.