[The implications of name variations among Spanish cardiologists].

A recent study published in the Revista Española de Cardiología1 showed important variation and lack of standardization in the names of Spanish cardiologists. This may have negative consequences for the diffusion of research results and the recognition of scientific authorship.2 Several reasons account for this variation in the way an author signs; these include all those agents involved in the process of publication and diffusion of scientific studies: authors, publishers, and bibliographic databases. The lack of uniformity in the way an author signs may begin with the authors themselves, as they do not always use a unique name. For instance, they may sometimes use just 1 of their 2 surnames and at other times use both surnames. Additionally, the publishers and the editorial committees of journals may introduce their own policies concerning naming, such as abbreviating names by using just the initial of the first names of the authors. However, most journals use no standardized measure and respect the signatures as sent by the authors. Finally, the bibliographic databases contribute to this variation, as they usually have their own norms for indexation. The 2 databases IME (Índice Médico Español – Spanish Medical Index) and MEDLINE respect the Spanish language system of names and use the first surname as the entry and keep the second surname if given. The SCI (Science Citation Index) database, on the other hand, has traditionally failed to respect our system, and imposed Anglo-Saxon language structures. This database uses our second surname as the only surname indexable, and this surname, therefore, appears as the first element in an entry, with all other names and surnames being reduced to initials.2 Aware of this situation, some authors have