Biomedical research in developing countries. I--The Algerian case (1993-1998).

Biomedical articles emerging from Algeria between 1993 an 1998 were analysed in order to evaluate the scientific output. By developing a search strategy based on complementary bibliographic databases, 221 articles were retrieved, which geographic location, research topic, language, journal name and impact factor were analysed. International collaborations resulted in a profound change of the publication profile in terms of language, journal impact factor, and above all a change in research interests.