A key global health objective is to promote the advancement of scientific production in disciplines with low publication volume, as opposed to specialties addressing pathologies that represent the greatest global disease burden (1). Dermatology is one such discipline, which has experienced substantial growth in research on immunopathogenic, pathophysiological, diagnostic, and therapeutic aspects (2-4). The extent to which Latin American authors and institutions have been involved in publishing scientific articles in the dermatology journals with highest impact worldwide remains unknown.

To address this, a brief bibliometric study reviewed the top five dermatology journals of 2020 according to the SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR): British Journal of Dermatology (BJD) (SJR: 2.3), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Dermatology (SJR: 2.1), American Journal of Clinical Dermatology (SJR: 2), Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD)(SJR: 1.9), and Dermatologic Clinics (SJR: 1.4). The archives of these five journals for the year 2021 were reviewed, extracting and analyzing the published information, obtaining data such as the total number of articles, participating authors, Latino authors, Latino authors as primary authors, the number of publications based on different typologies, and the number of Latino authors involved in each typology. Supplements were not considered.

The total number of articles published in the five journals in 2021 was 2,074, involving a total of 12,325 authors, of which only 208 (1.68%) were Latinos. Of the latter, 15% (n=33/208) were primary authors. The selected articles included 267 original articles, 211 review articles (narrative/systematic, meta-analysis), and 1,596 other types of articles. The participation of Latino authors in each category was as follows: 11.2% (n=30/267) in original articles, 3.7% (n=8/211) in review articles, and 10.5% (n=170/1,596) in other articles. The main topics addressed by the 208 articles included Alopecia, COVID-19, and pharmacological interventions, followed by the utilization of botulinum toxin, folliculitis, melanosis, melasma, mycosis, and minoxidil. Importantly, the articles demonstrate a pattern of collaborative research, with frequent co-authorship observed among the most prolific authors in 2021 in these topics.

Table 1. Metrics and characteristics of Latino authors with the highest number of publications in TOP dermatology journals during 2021.

Table 1. Metrics and characteristics of Latino authors with the highest number of publications in TOP dermatology
Metrics and characteristics of Latino authors with the highest number of publications in TOP dermatology journals during 2021

Source: Prepared by the authors.* No data available for this author

Table 1. Metrics and characteristics of Latino authors with the highest number of publications in TOP dermatology
Authors (number of articles published during the study period)	Scopus H-index	Google Scholar H-index	Total number of articles indexed in Google Scholar	Total number of articles indexed in Scopus	Affiliation	Country
Rodrigo Pirmez (6)	13	15	80	48	Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro	Brazil
Leonardo Spagnol Abraham (4)	22	-*	-*	9	Hospital Regional da Asa Norte	Brazil
Bruna Duque Estrada (4)	13	-*	-*	24	Instituto de Dermatologia Professor Rubem David Azulay	Brazil
Hélio Amante Miot (4)	26	37	361	184	Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”	Brazil
Paulo Müller Ramos (4)	9	13	50	48	São Paulo State University	Brazil
José Antonio Sanches (4)	22	28	251	107	University of São Paulo	Brazil
Maria Fernanda Reis Gavazzoni (4)	1	-*	-*	3	Fluminense Federal University	Brazil
*No data available for this author.
Source: Prepared by the authors.

The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology had the highest proportion of Latino authors in relation to the total number of authors, with a share of 2.2%. Likewise, this journal exhibited Latino author involvement in 12 out of every 100 published articles, making it the journal with the highest participation of Latino authors based on the total number of articles. Furthermore, it exhibited the highest percentage of Latino authors participating in original articles and other article types, relative to the total number of articles published in the journal (15.7% and 11.8%, respectively). However, Dermatologic Clinics had the highest percentage of Latinos as primary authors (33.3%).

The country with the greatest number of contributions to TOP journals in dermatology was Brazil (n=121), followed by Chile (n=30) and Mexico (n=27). Consequently, the institutions with the greatest participation were Universidade de São Paulo (n=22), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (n=11), Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (n=11), and Universidad de Chile (n=11). (Table 1) presents the TOP 7 authors with the highest production in the journals studied during 2021. All the authors who excelled in scientific production in these journals were affiliated with diverse institutions in Brazil. Although metrics were unavailable for some authors, overall, these researchers have a substantial volume of published articles and robust metrics.

In light of these findings, it can be concluded that the proportion of Latino authors publishing in TOP dermatology journals is low, primarily concentrated among Brazilian authors, and articles of the “other” type (i.e., other than original studies and reviews). The above points to the need to conduct a thorough evaluation of the factors contributing to this phenomenon, which may be related to the barriers that have been previously described in other specialties. These barriers include insufficient funding, inadequate infrastructure, academic training that prioritizes clinical over research aspects, time constraints, lack of incentives from universities and hospitals, exclusion of students and residents from research projects, among other factors (5). These findings also suggest that TOP journals should establish programs or special dedicated issues to encourage manuscript submissions from regions with greater research needs, thereby fostering increased discussion and enhancing the likelihood of receiving manuscripts that meet quality criteria. This is crucial because, due to limited awareness, valuable research containing high-quality findings is often published in low-quality journals, which adversely affects the dissemination of dermatological findings. Presently, a significant gap remains in available and reproducible evidence concerning dermatological diseases in Latin America. It is therefore imperative to develop high-quality research that can serve as a global reference and promote the determinants of health for patients with dermatological conditions.

In interpreting these results, it is crucial to take into account specific biases. One important aspect to consider is the different publishing guidelines of these journals, including differing frequencies for accepting specific types of manuscripts. For instance, Dermatologic Clinics only accept review articles, which affects the dynamics of the scientific publications within this group of journals.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

No external funding was provided to the authors for this study.

References

1. Nuñez-Gamez JA, Medina-Bravo PA, Piñeros-López NF, Contreras GA, Rosero-Burgos ME, Lozada-Martínez ID, et al. Global outcomes, surgical teams and COVID-19 pandemic: Will the same objectives of global surgery persist?Ann Med Surg (Lond) [Internet]. 2021;71:103002. doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2021.103002

2. Fuller LC, Hay RJ. Global health dermatology: building community, gaining momentum. Br J Dermatol [Internet]. 2019;180(6):1279-1280. doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.17915

3. Williams VL, Kovarik CL. The Growing Importance of Dermatology on the Global Stage. Dermatol Clin [Internet]. 2021;39(1):xiii-xiv. doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.det.2020.09.001

4. Man H, Xin S, Bi W, Lv C, Mauro TM, Elias PM, et al. Comparison of publication trends in dermatology among Japan, South Korea and Mainland China. BMC Dermatol [Internet]. 2014;14:1. doi: http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-5945-14-1

5. Llamas-Nieves A, Maiguel-Lapeira J, Lozada-Martinez I, Torres-Llinas D, Moscote-Salazar L. The desire to publish a scientific article and the difficulties of publishing it in a high-quality neurosurgery scientific journal. J Neurosurg Sci [Internet]. 2022;66(2):163-164. doi: http://doi.org/10.23736/S0390-5616.21.05297-8

Notas de autor

Iván David Lozada Martínez. Grupo Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Médicas y Quirúrgicas, Capítulo Futuros Cirujanos, Asociación Colombiana de Cirugía. #24- a Carrera 50ª #2463, 130004. Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia. Email: ilozada@unab.edu.co

Información adicional

How to reference.: Mass-Hernández LM, Acevedo-Aguilar LM, Lozada-Marinez ID. Participation of Latino Authors in TOP Dermatology Journals During 2021: a Brief Bibliometric Analysis. MedUNAB [Internet]. 2023;26(1):9-11. doi: https://doi.org/10.29375/01237047.4541

Enlace alternativo

https://revistas.unab.edu.co/index.php/medunab/article/view/4541 (html)

https://revistas.unab.edu.co/index.php/medunab/article/view/4541/3799 (pdf)

https://revistas.unab.edu.co/index.php/medunab/article/view/4541/3851 (xml)