[Approximation to the impact of biomedical journals in neurological sciences: study of bibliometric indicators in the Journal Citation Reports-Science Citation Index 2006]

Abstract

Introduction: Neurological sciences form a multidisciplinary field that produces a wide range of scientific journals. The aim of this study was to perform a scientometric analysis of neurological science journals in the 2006 Journal Citation Reports-Science Citation Index (JCR-SCI) edition.

Materials and methods: We study the three areas dedicated to neurological sciences (Neurosciences, Clinical Neurology and Neuroimaging) in the 2006 JCR-SCI edition. Bibliometric indicators used are: journals, articles, citations, impact factor (IF), immediacy index, half life and journals with the greatest IF in each specialty. We also perform a special analysis of Spanish neurological journals in JCR-SCI.

Results: In the area of Neurosciences we find a total of 200 journals, 27.157 articles, 1.109.784 citations and an average IF of 2,446, the greatest IF belonging to Annu Rev Neurosci (28,533) and Nat Rev Neurosci (23,054); Spanish journals: Neurocirugia and Acta Esp Psiquiatr. The area of Clinical Neurology contains 147 journals, 18.114 articles, 540.364 citations and an average IF of 1,848, the greatest IF belonging to Lancet Neurol (9,479) and Ann Neurol (8,051); Spanish journals: Neurologia and Rev Neurol. The area of Neuroimaging contains 13 journals, 1.747 articles, 49.210 citations and an average IF of 1,298, the greatest IF belonging to Neuroimage (5,559) and Hum Brain Mapp (4,888).

Conclusions: We found out a broad representation of neurological journals from the 6,166 journals included in the 2006 JCR-SCI edition. Bibliometric characteristics differ in accordance to the clinical (Clinical Neurology) or experimental (Neurosciences) nature of the area. Even though bibliometric indicators for the four Spanish neurological journals have gradually improve over the previous 5 years, they are still proportionally ranked low in JCR-SCI. Due to significant limitations observed in the IF, we suggest conducting its analysis from a multidimensional bibliometric perspective, and always within its contextual research area.