[Analysis of Argentine scientific production in MEDLINE in the area of hypertension].

Introduction: Argentine science has played an important role in the study of blood pressure. However, this scientific production has not been classified. We set out (1) to analyse the contribution of scientific publications indexed in MEDLINE of authors with Argentinean academic affiliation in the field of blood pressure and hypertension in the last 50 years and, (2) determine the characteristics of the scientific journals in which they were published.
Methods: The 831 indexed MEDLINE publications by authors from Argentina were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively (period 1966-2017).
Results: The number of publications has increased 5.4 times in the last 20 years. Eighty percent of the publications were original manuscripts and 15% reviews. Sixty-five percent of the publications addressed clinical research, 33% basic research. The average authors per paper was 6 (89% as first author), 74% belonged to public institutions. The research was published in journals published in the United States (36%), the United Kingdom (27%), the Netherlands (12%), Spain (6%) and Argentina (4%). Eighteen percent of the publications were in journals with impact factor >3.88 (first quartile). Only 5% accessed journals with a factor ≥10. The average SJR index was 1.66.
Conclusions: Argentine scientific production in MEDLINE in the field of blood pressure and hypertension showed constant growth. The vast majority is original research, directed by researchers with affiliation to public institutions. Foreign journals are accessed in the main, with acceptable quality indexes.
(Copyright © 2019 SEH-LELHA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)