Scientometrics for the medical sciences: Definitions, applications and perspectives

Abstract

Scientometrics or bibliometrics is the quantitative analysis of scientific production (especially papers) to investigate the development, structure, dynamics, trends and relationships of scientific practice. Their development is one of the effects of the digital revolution in science, their use in medicine has increased and the bibliometric applications in the medical field can be classified into five categories: recovery literature, obtaining new knowledge, literature reviews, medical science analysis, evaluation, management and medical policy, we give some examples. The millions of medical data that are generated from the literature, the thousands of library collections in the world and the hundreds of applications available today to process and analyze literature, indicate the importance of preparing medical specialists in Mexico that dominate the processing of electronic literature by innovative methods and cutting edge like  cientometrics. The first step towards this goal will be to teach doctors in training features, advantages and perspectives of this method.