BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Bibliometric analyses of scientific publications on pain are scarce in the literature. This study aimed at analyzing the scientific production on pain of a Research Institute. METHOD: This is a retrospective cohort study analyzing articles published in indexed journals, by professionals affiliated to a Research Institute of a non-for-profit general hospital of the city of São Paulo, from 2008 to 2011. Searched databases were Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science, Scielo and LILACS. RESULTS: During the analyzed period, 47 articles have addressed pain, with mean of 11 articles/year in ascending trend. As to intellectual authorship, these publications have involved 258 authors, with predominance of physicians (77%). Twenty-four studies were carried out in collaboration with other institutions, from them, 22 in partnership with Universities. Migraine (25.7%) and headache (14.9%) were most studied sub-themes, and epidemiological designs were the most observed (47%). Most researches (71%) were published by journals with impact factor, being 27 articles (57.4%) published by eight pain specialist journals. Mean impact factor of publications was 2.32. Twenty articles were quoted (42.4%): 102 by Web-of-Science and 135 by SCOPUS. Two articles were quoted twice by Scielo. CONCLUSION: Although studies on pain are still a small part of total production of the analyzed institute, they show potential for growth. Most articles were published by international journals with impact factor and quotations which indicate quality of produced knowledge.
Bibliometric indicators; Pain; Scientific publications
