Gender analysis of papers published in Revista de Neurología (2002-2006)

There is an ongoing interest in the society in promoting gender equality and in women integration in research activities. The purpose of this work is to identify from a gender perspective the bibliometric characteristics of articles published in Revista de Neurología journal during the 2002-2006 period. Records were obtained from Science Citation Index database of ISI-Thomson platform. The following indicators were determined, disaggregated by gender: year of publication, type of document, number and order of signatures, number of collaborators, signature/papers index and in the institutional and geographical level. 4527 authors were identified, 2614 (57.74%) men and 1913 (42.,26%) women. The highest women's participation took place in original articles (39.01% of signatures). 44.5% of authors with one published article were women, while 'big women producers' (those with more than 9 articles) only were 16.67%. A greater productivity in men and a greater rate of collaboration in women has been detected. Scientific activity studies disaggregated by gender give an essential information in order to establish the basis of a scientific policy for promoting the woman as researcher. The evolution in the number of female authors in Revista de Neurología journal does not present an aiming growth to reach the parity in the next years. A low presence of women in positions of high productivity has been detected, whose causes should be identified.