RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyze the general characteristics and methodology of indexed publications by the health staff of the Mexican Social Security Institute in 1997. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Original articles were evaluated. The primary sources included Index Medicus, Current Contents and the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) index. The following information was gathered for each article: affiliation and chief activity of the first author; impact factor of the journal; research type; field of study; topic of study, and methodological conduction. This latter point included congruence between design and objective, reproducibility of methods, applicability of the analysis, and pertinence of the conclusions. RESULTS: A total of 300 original articles was published of which 212 (71%) were available for the present study: full-time investigators (FTI) generated 109 articles and investigators with clinical activities (CAI) wrote 103 articles. The median impact factor of the journals in which FTI published was 1.337 (0.341 to 37.297) and for CAI publications, 0.707 (0.400 to 4.237). Biomedical research predominated in the first group (41%) and clinical investigation in the second (66%). Statistically significant differences were identified for the methodological conduction between groups of investigators. CONCLUSIONS: Descriptive studies and publications in journals without impact factor predominated. The FTI group had the highest bibliographic production of original articles in indexed journals with an impact factor.