Abstract

OLIVEIRA, Michelle Pimenta et al. Public oral health: a review of professional journals. Arq. Odontol. [online]. 2011, vol.47, n.1, pp. 31-37. ISSN 1516-0939.

Aim: This study aimed to analyze the dental scientific production in the area of Public Health, from periodicals indexed in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) database. Materials and Methods: The present study analyzed 10 journals, in the area of public health, with 605 editions, totaling 8.494 articles, indexed in SciELO and published between January 1998 and December 2007. Results: Considering the total number of published articles (n=8.494), 260 were associated with dentistry, corresponding to 3% of the analyzed production. The largest scientific article production was concentrated in the Public Health Journals (26.5%), whereas a lesser amount could be found in the Revista de Salud Pública (Public Health Journal, Colombia) (2%). The great majority of scientific production came from institutions of higher education (48%), 76.5% of which came from public institutions, located mainly in the Southeastern regions of Brazil (54%). Conclusion: The results demonstrated the growth of scientific literature on public health in Brazil, but with obvious regional bias and prominent involvement of institutions of higher education.

Keywords : Dentistry; Public health; Periodicals; Database.