LILACS database: eighteen years indexing Latin American and Caribbean health sciences journals

Regina C. Figueiredo Castro

BIREME/PAHO/WHO

10th International Conference of Science Editors,

Rio de Janeiro, August 2000

BIREME Latin American and Caribbean Health

Sciences Information Center

• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Regional Center for health sciences information

• Coordinates a network of libraries and documentation centers comprising 37 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean

• Develops computer applications, methodologies, information products and services to improve scientific communication and dissemination of information in countries of the Region

Bibliographic control of literature

Since 1974 BIREME is a MEDLARS International Center:

- indexing LA&C health journals for MEDLINE database;

- translating MESH (Medical Subject Headings) to Spanish and Portuguese

One of the main objectives of BIREME is the bibliographic control of health scientific and technical literature produced in the Region

Health Terminology

Since 1982, BIREME produces a controlled vocabulary - DeCS (Health Science Descriptors), which includes translated MeSH terms and new subject categories in Public Health and Homeopathy fields, in three languages: Spanish, Portuguese and English

• DeCS terms in Spanish and Portuguese are included in UMLS (Unified Medical Language System)

• DeCS is used for indexing LA&C journals for MEDLINE and LILACS

Database production

In 1982, IMLA database expanded its thematic scope (from Medicine to Health Sciences, including Public Health) and indexed more journal titles and other types of documents, generating LILACS database

In 1978, BIREME started the Index Medicus Latinoamericano (IMLA) as a complement to U.S. NLM MEDLINE database. 150 Latin American health scientific journals were selected to initiate IMLA

LILACS Latin American and Caribbean

Health Sciences Literature

LILACS indexes:

• scientific journal articles, books, book chapters, thesis, conference papers,

scientific and technical reports and nonconventional literature

• produced by Latin American and Caribbean authors and published in countries of

the Region

• from 1982 on

Why LILACS?

• Because Latin American and Caribbean health scientific production was almost absent from

international databases

• Due to the need to include other types of documents such us: governmental publications, books, conference proceedings, reports and nonconventional literature, mainly for the Public Health field

• To improve bibliographic control of scientific production in the health sciences field

generated in Latin American and Caribbean countries

Indexing of LA&C health scientific journals

Journals

LILACS 699

SciELO* 42

MEDLINE 43

EMBASE 49

JCR/ISI 21

* Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba and Public Health

LILACS records by type of document

Journals77%

Monographs17%Thesis

4%

Non conventional

2%

0

50

100

150

200

250

Cos

ta R

ica

Uru

guay

Bol

ivia

Peru

Col

ombi

a

Cub

a

Equa

dor

Chi

le

Mex

ico

Ven

ezue

la

Arg

entin

a

Bra

zil

Oth

er

LILACS journals by country of publication

Dominican Rep., Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, USA (PAHO)

Total: 699 journals

Decentralized input to LILACS

More than 400 Cooperating Centers from 37 countries of the Region input records to LILACS

250,816 records by July 2000

Annual average input in the last 3 years: 23,000 records

Scientific production in LILACS by country of publication

Brazil40%

Chile10%

Argentina10%Mexico

9%

Other10%

Venezuela5%

Cuba4%

Colombia4%

USA (PAHO)

5%

Peru3%

Total: 250,816 records

0

50

100

150

200

<189

9

1900

/9

1910

/9

1920

/9

1930

/9

1940

/9

1950

/9

1960

/9

1970

/9

1980

/9

1990

/9

LA&C journals by initial date of publication

79 %

58%Gaceta médica de México (1864)

Revista médica de Chile (1872)

Gaceta médica de Caracas (1893)

0

50

100

150

200

250

Monthly Bimonthly Quarterly 3/year Biannual Annual

LILACS Journals by frequency of publication

Journal articles indexed in LILACS by language

Spanish55%

Portuguese37%

English8%

Decentralized selection of journals

• Selection of journals is decentralized in countries of the Region, according to the common selection criteria developed by BIREME

• Journals not accepted in LILACS are indexed in national databases to ensure bibliographic control of scientific production at national level

• LILACS Journals Selection Criteria (updated April 2000): common methodology

LILACS Selection criteria

• Quality of contents (measured by number of original articles, statement of peer review, validity and importance to the field, standardization etc.)

• Regularity of publication

• Frequency of publication

• Years of existence

• Format of presentation

• Indexing in international databases

Some evaluation studies of LILACS journals

1993 Editorial procedures for selection of articles for publishing

1996 Characteristics of health journals indexed in LILACS: comparison of MEDLINE and non- MEDLINE journals

1999 Evaluation of Brazilian health journals indexed in LILACS (in progress)

Main problems in ranking and selecting LA&C journals

• Irregularity of publication

• Low frequency of publication (biannual, annual)

• Less than 50% of original articles

• Lack of systematic peer review procedures

• In-house Editorial Committees

• Few articles in collaboration with foreign countries

• Lack of standardization

Impact of LILACS selection criteria

Selection criteria established for LILACS had contributed to improvement of LA&C health journals in the last decade:

• ISSN

• Editorial Committees

• Standardization

• Frequency of publication

• Use of DeCS terms as keywords

SciELO Scientific Electronic Library Online

• 1998: SciELO project

• Objectives: To contribute to the development of national scientific research, improving and creating new means for dissemination, publishing and evaluation of research results

• SciELO selection criteria: based on BIREME’s experience with LILACS and on FAPESP, CNPq and CAPES experience on evaluation of Brazilian journals

Health journals in SciELO

SciELO Brazil 23

SciELO Chile 6

SciELO Costa Rica 5

SciELO Cuba 5

SciELO Public Health 5

Future perspectives of LILACS

• Access to documents indexed both in printed and electronic format:

• full texts (URL) of documents indexed• Cooperative Access to Documents Service

(SCAD)

• LILACS journals included in SciELO: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba and Public Health

• SciELO/LILACS:100 to 150 selected titles on health

Future perspectives of LILACS

• Online indexing on Internet will enable faster dissemination and access to LA&C journals in MEDLINE/PubMED and LILACS databases

• Links to other databases (bibliographic, numerical, full text, research projects, etc.)

• Links from electronic journals and other databases

LILACS

http://www.bireme.br/bvs