[Bibliometric study of articles published in the Revista Española de Anestesiología y Reanimación in 1996-2001].

OBJECTIVE: This evaluation of articles published by Revista Española de Anestesiología y Reanimación (REDAR) between 1996 and 2001 focused on authorship, institutional participation and citations.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eight hundred twelve articles from 1996 through 2001 were examined for the following information: mean number of authors per article, professional categories and affiliations of the authors, inter-institutional collaboration, number of references, number of self-citations of previous work by one of the authors, rate of journal self-citation, number of citations of Spanish authors, insularity index, immediacy index, number of references that could be evaluated should REDAR analyzed as be a source journal.

RESULTS: The mean number of authors per article the period analyzed was 4.26 and the mean number did not differ significantly from year to year. Anesthesiologists accounted for 89.7% of the authors. Institutional collaboration led to 259 articles and the collaboration index was 1.5. The number of references per article was 19.4, the rate of journal self-citation was 6.42%, and the rate of citation authors' own work was 2.73%. The insularity index was 11.9, and the immediacy index was 0.17; 2,430 citable works were counted for calculation of an impact factor. REDAR was the most-cited journal.

CONCLUSIONS: The authorship indexes for REDAR are similar to those of other Spanish publications, although the institutional rate is lower. The number of references is similar to those in other Spanish journals. REDAR is the journal receiving the largest number of references and has the greatest effect on the immediacy index.