World dental research production: an ISI database approach (1999-2003).

The objective of this study was to obtain a geographic world map of scientific production in dentistry by analysing published papers. Articles and reviews in the Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine category published from 1999 to 2003 were accessed through the ISI database. The data were analyzed quantitatively (number of documents, number of researchers, productivity, interannual variation rate and relative specialization index), qualitatively (weighted impact factor, relative impact factor, citation rate per document and top 5 publications) and socioeconomically (number of documents per inhabitant and per dentist and in relation to the country's GDP).