OBJECTIVE: To describe the Spanish scientific production of primary care during 2013-2017 and analyze their geographical distribution, impact factor, areas of research and involvement of different institutional sectors.
DESIGN: Observational study bibliometric.
PARTICIPANTS: The study focused on publications indexed in Medline.
MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Journal and year of publication, first/last author, workplace and autonomous community. Later, articles were classified according to their content. The impact factor was obtained from the basis of bibliometric analysis Journal Citation Reports.
RESULTS: Using search criteria, were selected 980 documents. The transiency rate was 78,8%. The highest proportion of articles (43.2%) came from health centers, but we observed an increase of the articles from units or research institutes (14.9% in 2013, 19.1% in 2017). Of the total, 63.3% were classified as "clinical aspects", 19.3% were published in the journal Atención Primaria, 40.6% in foreign journals and 72.4% in journals with impact factor, being this proportion significantly lower (p <0.001) in those coming from health centers (59.6%) or teaching units/management/health services (70.0%) with respect to those originated in research units/institutes (93.1%) or in universities (89.0%). In relation to population (articles/100.000 inhab.), the most productive communities were Cataluña (4.2), Aragón (3.9), e Islas Baleares (3.3).
CONCLUSIONS: In primary care publications there is great diversity in both research areas such as in journals where published. Most are from health centers, treat clinical aspects and published in Spanish journals. Differences in the volume of scientific production between regions are observed.
