The evaluation of scientific productivity in Brazil: An assessment of the mental health field

Brazilian scientific production has increased significantly over the last decade, and mental health has been a leading research field in the country, with a growing number of articles published in high quality international journals. This article analyses the scientific output of mental health research between 2004 and 2006 and estimates individual research performance based on four different strategies. A total of 106 mental health scientists were included in the analysis; together they published 1,209 articles indexed in Medline or ISI, with over 65% of the production in journals with impact factor a parts per thousand yen1. Median impact factor of publications was 2. Spearman correlation coefficient showed a large positive correlation between all four different measures used to estimate individual research output. Ten investigators were together responsible for almost 30% of the articles published in the period, whereas 65% of the sample contributed with less than 10 articles.Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Dept Psychiat, Rio Grande Do Sul, BrazilHosp Clin Porto Alegre, BR-90035003 Porto Alegre, RS, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc