Scientific research of senior Italian academics of occupational medicine: a citation analysis of publications of the decade 2001-2010.

Objective. To analyze scientific products of 10 years of academics of occupational medicine (n=29) in Italian Universities by means of citation analysis. Population and methods. The products published during the decade 2001-2010 were analyzed by means of Elsevier’s Scopus®. Scientific performance was assessed by means of 9 different indices (including total number of papers, total citations, h-index). Results. Most papers were submitted to journals of allergy and respiratory medicine, biochemistry, and toxicology. Only 11.9% of the 1,689 papers were published in journals of occupational medicine. The authors’ h-index was 10.1 (mean) and 9.5 (median) for the overall production. Productivity was associated with number of contributing authors. Conclusions. Most papers cover topics in the mainstream of other disciplines, evidencing that journals of occupational medicine do not play a primary role in the scientific panorama of medical sciences. This could imply consequences for the discipline.