Scientific output and impact in Public Health.

During the last decades the country has witnessed a noteworthy expansion and consolidation of graduate studies in Public Health. This expansion has been followed by the emergence of new research groups and lines of research, many of which deal fundamentally with the numerous challenges posed by public health at the regional level. Depending on a set of factors (research theme, methodological approaches, institutional context of the research group), it is well-known that given researchers can enjoy greater or lesser ease in publishing their work in what are considered the more prestigious international journals. Due to the delicate balance between " global " and " regional " interests in science, a more in-depth discussion is urgently needed on the evaluation of scientific output in the broader health field and especially that of Public Health. After all, who sets our research agendas? A study recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal by Rochon and colleagues (v. 170, p. 1673, 2004) analyzes articles published in six renowned journals. In addition to the CMAJ itself, the study includes Ann Intern Med, BMJ, JAMA, Lancet, and N Engl J Med. The choice was based on recognition of the influence these publications can bring to bear on setting international research agendas and therefore lines of research funding, among other priorities. Specifically, the study analyzes the relationship between the global burden of disease and injuries or diseases researched in a total of 286 control trials. The authors concluded that many important diseases in the determination of the global burden of disease in numerous developing countries are heavily underrepresented. Only one-third of the studies on HIV/AIDS were conducted in countries outside North America and Europe. Important endemic diseases with a strong presence in the morbidity and mortality profile of numerous countries were the object of very few investigations. This study does not emerge as an isolated case. It adds to the critical literature which has repeatedly identified the gap between the research agendas predominating in so-called " state-of-the-art science " and daily public health demands around the world, especially in the Third World countries. This orientation is obviously reflected in the editorial policies and lines prevailing in the major medical journals published in the Anglo-Saxon world. In this context, scientific journals published in the developing countries play a strategic role in disseminating the scientific output produced by the latter, in keeping with the research lines and priorities …