Response to comments on Profile of Brazilian scientific production on A/H1N1 pandemic influenza"

CARTAS LETTERS

Response to comments on Profile of Brazilian scientific production on A/H1N1 pandemic influenza"

Adriana Luchs

Centro de Virologia, Instituto Adolfo Lutz. [e-mail]

The use of the scientific literature as a measure of research activity has acquired great importance in the assessment of the production and utilization of scientific information¹; however, due to some inherent limitations of the available databases, the accuracy of the data cannot de fully achieved². In the search strategy, for example, the field "affiliation" has not been designed necessarily as an indication of the place where the research was conducted. This field indicates only the geographical location of the first author, even in documents co-authored by investigators from different countries. As a result, if Brazilian researchers were not the first authors in international co-authored papers, the work might not be considered. Another methodological limitation concerns the field "MeSH Major Topic" in the search strategy on Medline database. The same limitations where also observed in Lilacs database³.

Bibliometric indicators are expected to play an increasingly important role in research assessment and management. Despite some limitations, this study offers subsidies to describe a profile of Brazilian scientific production on A/H1N1 pandemic influenza. I hope that this work also stimulates the debate on the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge in this specific area.

• 1. Araújo CR, Moreira MA, Lana-Peixoto MA. Profile of the Brazilian scientific production in multiple sclerosis. Braz J Med Biol Res 2006; 39(9):1143-1148.
• 2. Spinak E. Quantitative analyses of scientific literature and their validity for judging Latin American production. Bull Pan Am Health Organ 1995; 29(4):352-359.
• 3. Luchs A. Profile of Brazilian scientific production on A/H1N1 pandemic influenza. Cien Saude Colet 2012; 17(6):1629-1634.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  23 Oct 2012
• Date of issue
  Oct 2012