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Objective To evaluate the number and characteristics of papers on MR imaging written by radiologists in Spain and published in 2001–2007 Medline-indexed journals, including a comparison with the MR research output from German radiological departments. Materials and methods Specific search profiles were devised to retrieve items from the Medline database. Relationship with the topic and major thematic areas of the articles, publication year, journal, language of publication, and mean impact factors were analyzed. Spanish and the German institutions with the highest MR productivity were identified. Also, the number of articles from Spain and Germany published in their respective official journals (Radiologia and ROFO) was recorded. Results There were 332 Spanish articles published in 101 different journals. The higher number of papers was published in Spanish radiology and non-radiology journals (n = 105, 32%, mean IF: 0.191). The journal with the higher number of articles was Radiologia (n = 51, 15%). “Neuroradiology” was the most frequent topic (n = 139, 42%). The Spanish productivity on MR imaging was yearly stable (p = 0.67), with the higher percentage of papers (17%) published in 2006. The topic with the higher IF was “neuroradiology” (IF: 2.317). There were no yearly variations for the three major thematic areas (“Neuro imaging”: p = 0.64; “Body imaging”: p = 0.91; and “Non-clinical miscellanea”: p = 0.46). The highest number of MR publications was found in two Spanish institutions (Dr. Peset University Hospital and Vall d’Hebron Hospital) (both, n = 28, 8%). In comparison, there were 1681 articles on MR imaging from Germany, having the two most productive institutions more than 150 papers in this period (University Hospital Essen and Eberhard-Karls University of Tubingen). The adjusted number of articles per million populations was 20.4 for Germany and 8.1 for Spain. A total of 395 (23%) articles originating from Germany were published in the official German radiological journal ROFO. The percentage of articles originating from Spain and Germany published in their respective official journals was statistically different. Discussion Spanish radiologists published approximately two-third of their MR articles in several non-Spanish journals, while the official Spanish radiological journal Radiologia leads the ranking of Spanish journals. Spanish radiologists are mainly active in the “neuroradiology” topic. The Spanish healthcare sector is the most active. German institutions published more in their official journal ROFO.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the hypothetical changes in the 2001 impact factor of 52 radiological journals included in the Science Citation Index–Journal Citation Reports by also counting cites proceeding from 73 Spanish journals on different medical specialties. Also, to estimate the possible impact factor of the official Spanish radiology journal, Radiologia , not included in this database. Materials and methods: A modified 2001 impact factor of 52 radiological journals and Radiologia was obtained by adding the number of cites in 1999 and 2000 from the medical Spanish journals. Data were obtained by consulting the 2001 edition of the Journal Citation Reports in the ‘Web of Science’ database. Results: The 16,985 bibliographical references were analysed (232 of them to radiological journals). The journal with the largest increase in its 2001 impact factor (from 1.83 to 1.90) was Radiologic Clinics of North America . European Journal of Radiology was the European journal with the highest increase (from 1.084 to 1.110) in the difference between the 2001 modified and original impact factor. The modified 2001 impact factor of the 34 American journals was statistically higher ( P = 0.016) than that of the 18 European journals (1.64 versus 0.93). Differences between the 2001 modified and original impact factor were slightly higher in the American journals (no statistically significant difference). The 2001 impact factor of Radiologia was 0.056. Discussion: Differences between the 2001 original and modified impact factor were small, but larger in the American journals. The 2001 impact factor of Radiologia was modest, although similar to other publications included in the Journal Citation Reports.