Metrics of Scientific production about COVID-19 in Cuban medical journals to 90 days of the pandemic

ABSTRACT

The National Medical Sciences Information Center and its Publishing House should follow up the behavior of the national scientific production as a basis for decision making. The present bibliometric study was designed to fulfill this task. The purpose of the study was to characterize the behavior of the scientific production about COVID-19 published in Cuban medical journals from 11 March to 11 June 2020. The sample was 106 documents about COVID-19 published during the period, which were analyzed with the methods used in metric studies of information. Bibliometric indicators of output, collaboration and impact were applied. In bibliometric terms, scientific communication about COVID-19 in Cuban medical journals was characterized by a gradual increase in the number of studies. Cuban institutions and their researchers showed a high degree of leadership in research and scientific communication processes. The strategies designed to manage scientific publications in the time of the pandemic exhibited positive results. A tendency was observed toward scientific collaboration, wherein universities stood out for their productivity. Outstanding actions include the establishment of multisectoral institutional alliances, as well as studies conducted by specialists from various fields which obtained results of a high scientific value, validating the leadership of Cuba in research about COVID-19, despite the economic and political situation in the region. © 2021, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.