Profile and scientific production of CNPq researchers in cardiology.

BACKGROUND Systematic assessments of the scientific production can optimize resource allocation and increase research productivity in Brazil. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the profile and scientific production of researchers in the field of Cardiology who have fellowship in Medicine provided by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico. METHODS The curriculum Lattes of 33 researchers with active fellowships from 2006 to 2008 were included in the analysis. The variables of interest were: gender, affiliation, tutoring of undergraduate, masters and PhD students, and scientific production and its impact. RESULTS : There was predominance of males (72.7%) and of fellowship level 2 (56.4%). Three states of the Federation were responsible for 94% of the researchers: SP (28; 71.8%), RS (4; 10.3%), e RJ (3; 9.1%). Four institutions are responsible for about 82% of researchers: USP (13; 39.4%), UNESP (5; 15.2%), UFRGS (4; 12.1%) e UNIFESP (3; 9.1%). During all academic careers, the researchers published 2.958 journal articles, with a mean of 89 articles per researcher. Of total, 55% and 75% were indexed at Web of Science and Scopus databases, respectively. The researchers received a total of 19648 citations at the database Web of Science, with a median of 330 citations per researcher (IQ = 198-706). The average number of citations per article was 13.5 citations (SD = 11.6). CONCLUSION Our study has shown that researchers in the field of cardiology have a relevant scientific production. The knowledge of the profile of researchers in the field of Cardiology will probably enable effective strategies to qualitatively improve the scientific output of Brazilian researchers.