A scientometric view of Revista Medica de Chile

Background: During the last decade Revista Medica de Chile increased its visibility, measured on citations and impact factor. Aim: To perform a scientometric analysis to assess the performance of Revista Medica de Chile. Material and methods: Thomson's-ISI Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports (JCR) were consulted for performance indicators of Revista Medica de Chile and Latin American journals whose subject is General and Internal Medicine. We also report the h-index of the journal, which infers quality linked to the quantity of the output. Results: According to the h-index, Revista Medica de Chile ranks 4 among the 36 journals indexed and published by Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The top ten articles published by Revista Medica de Chile and the institutions with the higher contribution to the journal, were identified using citations. In the Latin American region, Brazil relevantly increased its scientific output. However, Argentina, Chile and Mexico maintain a plateau during the last decade. Conclusions: Revista Medica de Chile increased notoriously its performance. Its contribution to the Chilean scientific community dedicated to Medicine appears to be of central value (Rev Med Chile 2008; 136: 1065-72).