Evaluation of scientific output in Dentistry in Spanish Universities

Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e491 Journal section: Oral Surgery Publication Types: Research Evaluation of scientific output in Dentistry in Spanish Universities María De la Flor-Martínez 1, Pablo Galindo-Moreno 1, Elena Sánchez-Fernández 1, Ernest Abadal 2, ManuelJesús Cobo 3, Enrique Herrera-Viedma 4 1 Department of Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry, University of Granada (Spain) 2 Department of Library and Information Science, University of Barcelona (Spain) 3 Department of Computer Science, University of Cadiz (Spain) 4 Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of Granada (Spain) Correspondence: School of Dentistry, University of Granada, Spain Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n 18071Granada, Spain [email protected] Received: 26/09/2016 Accepted: 11/05/2017 Abstract Background: The aim of this study was to assess the scientific output of Spanish universities that offer a bachelor’s degree in dentistry through the use of various bibliometric indicators. Material and Methods: A total of 21 universities offered a bachelor’s degree in dentistry in academic year 20162017. The search for papers published by authors associated with these institutions was carried out using the selection of journals listed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and the Web of Knowledge database for the period 1986-2017. On the basis of these data, we determined the output, the h-, gand hg-indexes, the most productive authors, international collaborations, and the most relevant journals. Results: Public universities obtained better results than private universities. The University of Valencia was ranked first, followed by the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Granada. The most productive author was José Vicente Bagán, but the author with the highest h-index was Mariano Sanz and Manuel Toledado. The universities with the greatest output and highest citation rates had more international collaborations. The most developed fields in Spanish universities were Oral surgery, Oral medicine and Dental materials. The universities had different models of production. At universities such as Barcelona or Valencia, the production was focused on very few departments and authors. At the other extreme, the University of Granada had various sources of research and authors, which meant that its output and citation rate could increase more. Conclusions: University faculties must provide suitable academic and research training, and therefore must be assessed using objective criteria and bibliometric tools. Although the number of university schools and faculties that teach dentistry has increased, and particularly the number of private universities, there is no correlation between their quality and output and the number of places offered on their courses. Key words: Dentistry, h-index, impact factor, universities, Spain. doi:10.4317/medoral.21656 http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.4317/medoral.21656 De la Flor-Martínez M, Galindo-Moreno P, Sánchez-Fernández E, Abadal E, Cobo MJ, Herrera-Viedma E. Evaluation of scientific output in Dentistry in Spanish Universities. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. http://www.medicinaoral.com/medoralfree01/v22i4/medoralv22i4p491.pdf Article Number: 21656 http://www.medicinaoral.com/ © Medicina Oral S. L. C.I.F. B 96689336 - pISSN 1698-4447 - eISSN: 1698-6946 eMail: [email protected] Indexed in: Science Citation Index Expanded Journal Citation Reports Index Medicus, MEDLINE, PubMed Scopus, Embase and Emcare Indice Médico Español Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e492 Introduction In recent decades, the area of Dentistry has developed considerably in terms of scientific output and citation rate, which now equal those in other areas of Medicine. A number of bibliometric studies have evaluated dentistry in an international context (1), whilst others have focused on specific countries. Brazil is one of the countries that have been most widely studied (2-4). Various bibliometric indicators have been applied to specific dentistry journals (5), or to subjects such as periodontics (6,7) or orthodontics (8). In Spain, there has been a change in scientific output and citation rate, as shown in various bibliometric studies, some of which are general (9), whilst others are focused on the fields of biomedicine (10-13), primary care (14), autism (15), cardiology (16), or dentistry (17) . Dentistry in Spain is a young discipline that was separated from Medicine and established as an independent degree in 1986. Since then, the number of Schools offering a degree in Dentistry has risen, which has led to higher numbers of dentistry graduates, particularly those with qualifications from private universities. At the same time, various indicators for assessing science have been designed in the field of bibliometrics. These include the well-known journal Impact Factor (18) and the h-index (19), which has become one of the most popular indicators since it emerged in 2005. The h-index has some limitations, but is complemented by other indexes, such as the g-index (20), which is based on assessing papers with high citations rates, and the hg-index (21) . The aim of this study was to assess the scientific output of Spanish universities that offer a degree in dentistry, and analyse the most productive authors. We carried out a quantitative (based on the number of papers published) and qualitative evaluation (through the application of the h-, gand hg-indexes) of universities. We identified the most productive authors, and those with the highest h-index. We also analysed these authors’ collaborations and the journals in which they published. Material and Methods A total of 21 (12 public and 9 private) Spanish universities offered a bachelor’s degree in dentistry in academic year 2016-2017, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport’s website. We devised a search strategy to find papers published by authors from these universities. We looked in journals listed in JCR 2015, and took into account changes in the name of the journals and journal supplements. Changes in the name of journals and in the ISSN, along with special journal supplements (7), were identified using the information provided in the Ulrich and Pubmed databases. Each university was analysed individually according to its name and abbreviation. The study period was from 1986, the year in which Dentistry was first approved as an independent degree to Medicine in Spain, until 2017. The Web of Knowledge and other databases were consulted in 2017 January 3rd. To identify all of the most productive authors, different forms of names were used as well as the ORCID identifier, when applicable. The data were processed by the database itself, and the h-, gand hg-indexes were obtained by downloading the information and processing it using Microsoft Excel version Windows 2010. Results The universities of Valencia, Complutense and Granada were ranked highest in quantitative (number of documents) and qualitative (h-index) terms. Private universities were ranked lowest on scientific output and bibliometric indexes, except the International University of Catalunya, which was in tenth place in the table, above the Rey Juan Carlos and Zaragoza public universities (Table 1). Although the University of Granada was ranked third, it had the highest number of publications in the first quartile of the JCR (Fig. 1). The relative importance of dentistry in the various universities was low, and generally did not reach 1% of the total output. Notably, Dentistry accounted for 17.72% of the total output at the International University of Catalunya (Table 1). We only selected authors who had published at least 60 documents in 1986-2017, which resulted in a total of 32 authors (Table 2). The most productive author was José Vicente Bagán (University of Valencia) with a total of 280/278 WoS and Scopus documents respectively, followed by Cosme Gay Escoda (University of Barcelona) with 267/264 WoS and Scopus documents respectivaly, and Manuel Toledano (University of Granada) with 270/246 WoS and Scopus documents. However, a qualitative analysis of the h-index placed Manuel Toledano in first position with an h-index of 41 in Wos and Scopus, and Mariano Sanz (h-index of 38 WoS and 43 Scopus), Raquel Osorio (University of Granada) in third position with 38/36 WoS and Scopus. Only eight women were on the list (25% of the total). The University of Granada had the highest number of researchers (nine; Table 3) and carried out research in various fields (oral surgery, dental materials, endodontics, oral medicine and preventive dentistry). Other universities had a maximum of four authors on the list and their research was focused on specific departments. The universities of Valencia, Granada and Barcelona, as well as the Complutense University of Madrid, had the highest output and index values, and the highest number of international collaborations (Tables 4-7). Discussion Scientific output in Spain has increased in all disciplines Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e493 Position University Documents Documents in Dentistry % documents Hindex Gindex Hgindex 1Univ. València (Estudi General) 119.779 1.049 0, 87% 50 69 58 2Univ. Complutense of Madrid 88.087 777 0, 88% 52 71 60 3Univ. Granada 67.092 763 1, 13% 49 65 56 4Univ. Barcelona 235.407 610 0, 25% 36 55 44 5Univ. Santiago de Compostela 31.279 384 1, 22% 30 43 35 6Univ. Murcia 29.250 323 1, 10% 24 33 28 7Univ. Sevilla 27.815 305 1, 09% 25 40 31 9 Univ. Basque Country Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea 36.645 220 0, 60% 22 29 25 8Univ. Oviedo 25.297 178 0, 70% 24 38 30 10 Internacional univ. of Catalunya 993 176 17, 72% 18 25 21 11 Univ. Rey Juan Carlos 7.677 111 1, 44% 17 24 20 12 Univ. Salamanca 22.899 101 0, 44% 14 20 16 13 Univ. Zaragoza 31.091 50 0, 16% 13 25 18 14 Univ. Europea of Madrid 1.680 37 2.20% 13 19 15 15 Univ. Católica of San Antonio 1.145 21 0233 16 Univ. Cardenal HerreraCEU 224 13 5, 80% 464 17 Univ. San Pablo-CEU 131 64, 58% 242 18 Univ. Alfonso X El Sabio 294 41, 36% 342 19 Univ. Europea of Valencia 109 43, 66% 111 20 Univ. Católica of Valencia San Vicente Mártir 4.604 20, 04% 000 21 Univ. Europea Miguel of Cervantes 107 00000 Table 1. Scientific output of Spanish universities. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e494 Fig. 1. Representation of universities by number of publications and quartile.  Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e495 Authors University Documents WoS Documents Scopus H-index Wos H-index Scopus Bagán, José Vicente University of Valencia General Univ Hosp 280 278 31 35 Toledano, Manuel University of Granada 270 246 41 41 Gay-Escoda, Cosme University of Barcelona Centro Teknon Idibell inst Bellvitge inst.biomed. Ididell 267 264 20 27 Peñarrocha-Diago, Miguel University of Valencia Clin Odontol Fac Med Odont 253 235 23 24 Osorio, Raquel University of Granada 233 223 38 36 Bascones Martínez, Antonio University Complutense 216 213 22 25 Sanz, Mariano University Complutense 211 230 39 43 López-Jonet, Pía University of Murcia Hosp Morales Meseguer 180 174 17 20 Diz Dios, Pedro University of Santiago de Compostela 168 174 20 25 Calvo-Guirado, José Luis University of Murcia 164 168 17 18 García-García, Abel University of Santiago de Compostela 154 136 24 25 Bravo, Manuel University of Granada 132 104 18 20 Galindo-Moreno, Pablo University of Granada Univ. Michigan 129 124 22 22 Aguirre Urizar, José Manuel Universidad of Basque Country 128 115 17 14 Camacho Alonso, Fabián Universidad of Murcia Univ. of Valencia Hosp Morales Meseguer 127 112 17 20 Bullón Fernández, Pedro University of Sevilla 122 122 22 23 Seoane Lestón, Juan Manuel University of Santiago de Compostela 121 125 14 19 Peñarrocha-Diago, María University of Valencia. Clin Odontol 120 104 15 14 Berini Aytés, Leonardo University of Barcelona Centro Teknon Idibell inst Bellvitge inst.biomed. Ididell 118 121 17 25 Gónzalez-Moles, Miguel Ángel University of Granada 109 106 23 25 GutiérrezPérez, José Luis University of Sevilla Hosp Univ. Virgen Rocío 108 121 12 15 Torres-Lagares, Daniel University of Sevilla Sch Dent Seville Virgen Rocio Univ. Hosp 103 111 11 14 Osorio, Estrella University of Granada Med Coll Georgia 101 93 26 25 Herrera, David University Complutense 101 101 27 27 Peñarrocha-Oltra, David University of Valencia Clin Odontol Univ Pisa 100 110 911 Segura-Egea, Juan José University of Sevilla Univ. Barcelona Virgen Rocío. Univ. Hosp 94 115 15 22 Gómez-Moreno, Gerardo University of Granada Univ. Murcia 94 93 16 16 Tomás, Inmaculada University of Santiago de Compostela 90 121 18 20 Monticelli, Francesca University of Zaragoza Univ. Granada Univ. Siena 85 78 33 33 Baca, Pilar University of Granada 82 70 18 16 Valmaseda-Castellón, Eduard University of Barcelona Centro Teknon Idibell inst Bellvitge inst.biomed. Ididell 69 73 15 17 Ferrer-Luque, Carmen María University of Granada 60 62 15 14 Table 2. Scientific output of Spanish authors on dentistry. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e496 University Authors Documents WoS Documents Scopus H index WoS H-index Scopus Univ. Valencia Bagán, José Vicente 280 278 31 35 Peñarrocha-Diágo, Miguel 253 235 23 24 Peñarrocha-Diágo, María 120 104 15 14 Peñarrocha Oltra,David 100 110 911 Univ. Complutense Bascones Martínez, Antonio 216 213 22 25 Sanz, Mariano 211 230 39 43 Herrera, David 101 101 27 27 Univ. Granada Toledano, Manuel 270 246 41 41 Osorio, Raquel 233 223 38 36 Bravo, Manuel 132 104 18 20 Galindo-Moreno, Pablo 129 124 22 22 González Moles, Miguel Ángel 109 106 23 25 Osorio, Estrella 101 93 26 25 Gómez-Moreno, Gerardo 94 93 16 16 Baca, Pilar 82 70 18 16 Ferrer Luque, Carmen María 60 62 15 14 Univ. Barcelona Gay Escoda, Cosme 267 264 20 27 Berini Aytés ,Leonardo 118 121 17 25 Valmaseda Castellón, Eduard 69 73 15 17 Univ. Santiago de Compostela Díz Dios, Pedro 168 174 20 25 García García, Abel 154 136 24 25 Seoane Lestón, Juan Manuel 121 125 14 19 Tomas, Inmaculada 90 121 18 20 Univ. Murcia López Jornet, María 180 174 17 20 Calvo Guirado, José luis 164 168 17 18 Camacho Alonso, Fabián 127 112 17 20 Univ. Sevilla Bullón Fernández, Pedro 122 122 22 23 Gutiérrez-Pérez, José Luis 108 121 12 15 Torres-Lagares, Daniel 103 111 11 14 Segura-Egea, Juan José 94 115 15 22 Univ. País Vasco Aguirre Urizar, José Manuel 128 115 17 14 Univ. Zaragoza Monticelli, Francesca 85 78 33 33 Table 3. Distribution of selected authors by universities. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e497 Countries Records Institutions Records Journal Records Spain 713 Univ. Valparaiso 75 Med. Oral pat. Oral y cirugía bucal 246 Brazil 148 Univ. London 48 European journal of cancer 141 USA 90 Univ. del Valle 44 J. dental research 67 Chile 84 Univ. Valparaiso 43 J. oral and max. surgery 63 England 72 Univ. College London 40 Oral diseases 46 Italy 56 Hosp. univ. Vall d´Hebron 38 Oral sur. Oral med. Oral pat. Oral radiology and end. 37 Colombia 48 Univ .gen hosp. 35 Int. journal of oral max. implants 35 France 35 Univ. federal de minas gerais 33 J. of periodontology 25 Sweden 28 Univ. Barcelona 28 Dental traumatology 20 Netherlands 24 Univ. do Vale do Paraiba 28 American j. ort. and dentofacial orthopedics 18 Table 4. Assessment of the University of Valencia, according to international collaborations by country, institution and journal. Countries Records Institutions Records Journal Records Spain 743 Univ. Granada 43 J. dental research 122 USA 58 Univ. Rey Juan Carlos 32 Med Oral pat. oral y cirugía bucal 91 Italy 56 Univ. Zurich 27 J. clinical periodontology 91 Switzerland 47 Univ. Sevilla 26 Clinical oral implants research 47 England 42 Univ. Zurich 25 J. of periodontology 32 Germany 31 Univ. Santiago de Compostela 24 Journal of dentistry 30 Sweden 25 CSIC 24 European journal of cancer 30 Chile 24 Univ. London 23 Int. journal of prosthodontics 24 Canada 21 Univ. De Chile 21 Int. journal of oral max. implants 17 Wales 20 Univ. Chile 21 J. oral and max. surgery 15 Table 5. Assessment of the Complutense University of Madrid, according to international collaborations by countries, institution and journal. Countries Records Institutions Records Journal Records Spain 735 Univ. Michigan 72 J. dental research 126 USA 223 Univ. Murcia 45 Med. Oral pat. Oral y cirugía bucal 75 Italy 73 Univ. Complutense Madrid 43 Clinical oral implants research 53 Brazil 73 Univ. System Georgia 42 Journal of dentistry 43 England 39 Univ. Augusta 42 Dental materials 37 Peoples R China 31 Univ. De Sao Paulo 41 J. endodontics 31 Argentina 19 Univ. Siena 36 J. of periodontology 26 Portugal 18 Univ. Murcia 33 American journal of dentistry 23 Serbia 14 Univ. Siena 32 Operative dentistry 22 Japan 11 Univ. London 31 Implant Dentistry 21 Table 6. Assessment of the University of Granada, according to international collaborations by country, institution and journal. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e498 Countries Records Institutions Records Journal Records Spain 609 HospClinic De Barcelona 137 European Journal of Cancer 200 England 53 Teknon Med Ctr 55 Med. Oral pat. Oral cirugía bucal 116 Usa 50 Ctr Med Teknon 48 J. Dental Research 38 Italy 47 Idibaps 33 J. Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery 21 Germany 41 Autonomous Univ. Barcelona 27 J. of Clinical Periodontology 16 France 35 Hosp. Unive. Vall D Hebron 20 Int. J. of Oral And Maxill Surgery 16 Switzerland 28 Univ. Sevilla 19 Oral Sur. Oral Med. Oral Pat. Oral radiology and end 14 Netherlands 24 Univ. Valencia 16 Oral Oncology 13 Brazil 22 Univ. London 15 J. Endodontics 13 Greece 21 Inst Invest Idibell 15 Int. Journal of Oral Maxill. Implants 13 Table 7. Assessment of the University of Barcelona, according to international collaborations by country, institution and journal. (9). A study on biomedicine in Spain classifies organisations into five sectors (13): the university sector (comprised of universities, university institutions and scientific technical services), the health sector (comprised of hospitals and primary care centres), public research organisations (PRO) (comprised mainly of the Spanish National Research Council [CSIC] and the Carlos III Health Institute [ISCIII]), the business sector (comprised of pharmaceutical companies), and government departments and organisations (in which associations also have an influence). Most dentistry activity is private. Very little dentistry activity takes place in centres or hospitals, where it is generally associated with the oral and maxillofacial surgery department. It is difficult to identify centres and institutions that are associated with universities in this field, as affiliations are not standardised. Therefore, in this study we only evaluated universities recognised by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports for academic year 2016-2017. This was considered to be the most objective criterion for assessing the Spanish education system. However, the disadvantage is that some of the main hospitals and health centres were not included, such as the Hospital de la Fe associated with the University of Valencia, or the Teknon or Bellvitge hospitals in the case of the University of Barcelona. The institutions with the highest scientific output and h-, gand hg-indexes were public universities. These results are similar to those of studies carried out on other disciplines in Spain. They are related to the education model in Spain, in which the public sector plays a more important role than the private sector (9), unlike models in other countries such as the USA. In general, there was little variation in the quantitative (number of documents) and qualitative (h-index) rankings, unlike data gathered on the international situation (7). The universities at the top of the ranking were those with the greatest degree of international cooperation. Output in dentistry has increased in recent years. However, unlike other fields, the greatest development has been in journals focused on different areas, rather than in journals specific to this field. This could explain why authors such as Manuel Toledano, Raquel Osorio and Francesca Monticelli, who are specialised in dental materials (22), have the best indexes. These fields are more frequently cited than areas such as dentistry. This result is related to the premises that are required and imposed by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA) for researchers and teaching staff. The journal Medicina Oral, Patología Oral y Cirugía Bucal, which was established in 2000, is the only Spanish journal listed in the JCR and, therefore, it is the journal in which most authors from Spanish universities publish their papers, particularly those from Valencia, Barcelona or Seville. As it is a Spanish journal, the number of citations it receives is limited, which is disadvantageous for the journal itself and for Spanish universities. There is a clear relationship between geographic situation and potential citations. A total of 91 journals were listed in the JCR in 2015, whilst the SJR classification included a total of 170 journals. As in other disciplines, the number of Spanish authors who publish in international journals is increasing (13). This kind of study has several limitations. The main limitation is related to time, as the results vary depending on which study period is selected and the date on which the search is carried out. Databases also influence the results as they were established in different years (Web of Knowledge emerged in 1950, Scopus in 1996 and Google Scholar in 2004), and have different journals indexed. Web of Knowledge favours Anglo- Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2017 Jul 1;22 (4):e491-9. Dentistry production in Spanish universities using h-index e499 Saxon journals more than the Scopus database. In the JCR, the only Spanish journal that is indexed is Medicina Oral, Patología Oral y Cirugía Bucal, whilst Scopus lists three together Medicina Oral, Patología Oral y Cirugía Bucal other Spanish journals for the area of dentistry: the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry (2011), Revista Portuguesa de Estamtología, Medicina Dentaria e Ciurgía Maxilofacial (2008), Revista Española de Cirugía Oral y Maxilofacial (2007), and Avances en Odontoestomatología (2004). Another limitation is related to the identification of authors (22). It is particularly difficult to analyse Spanish and Asian authors, as stated in other studies. More than one author may have exactly the same name, or one author may have various forms of his/her name or affiliations. This makes it difficult to analyse the database. To eliminate these errors, the search for authors was carried out using the different forms of names included in the database or using the ORCID identifier, when applicable. Conclusions Public universities have the best indexes of output and quality, and the University of Valencia and University Complutense of Madrid obtain the best results. The areas of dentistry that are most developed in the universities are: oral surgery, periodontics, dental materials and oral medicine. The most productive authors are José Vicente Bagán, Cosme Gay Escoda and Manuel Toledano, although those with the highest h-indexes are Manuel Toledano, Mariano Sanz, and Raquel Osorio. The universities’ research models vary. The universities of Barcelona and Valencia, as well as the Complutense University of Madrid, focus their scientific output on very few areas. In contrast, the University of Granada’s production model covers many areas. Universities with more international collaboration had greater visibility and output. References 1. Gil-Montoya JA, Navarrete-Cortes J, Pulgar R, Santa S, MoyaAnegon F. World dental research production: an ISI database approach (1999-2003). European Journal of Oral Sciences. 2006;114:102-8. 2. Gracio MCC, de Oliveira EFT, Gurgel JD, Escalona MI, Guerrero AP. Dentistry scientometric analysis: a comparative study between Brazil and other most productive countries in the area. Scientometrics. 2013;95:753-69. 3. da Luz MP, Marques-Portella C, Mendlowicz M, Gleiser S, Freire Coutinho ES, Figueira I. Institutional h-index: The performance of a new metric in the evaluation of Brazilian Psychiatric Post-graduation Programs. Scientometrics. 2008;77:361-8. 4. Primo NA, Gazzola VB, Primo BT, Tovo MF, Faraco IMJ. Bibliometric analysis of scientific articles published in Brazilian and international orthodontic journals over a 10-year period. Dental press journal of orthodontics. 2014;19:56-65. 5. Jayaratne YSN, Zwahlen RA. The Evolution of Dental Journals from 2003 to 2012: A Bibliometric Analysis. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0119503. 6. Geminiani A, Ercoli C, Feng C, Caton JG. Bibliometrics study on authorship trends in periodontal literature from 1995 to 2010. Journal of Periodontology. 2014;85:e136-e143. 7. De la Flor-Martínez M, Galindo-Moreno P, Sánchez-Fernández E, Piattelli A, Cobo MJ, Herrera-Viedma E. H-classic: a new method to identify classic articles in Implant Dentistry, Periodontics, and Oral Surgery. Clin Oral Impl Res. 2016;27:1317-30. 8. Mavropoulos A, Kiliaridis S. Orthodontic literature: An overview of the last 2 decades. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. 2003;124:30-40. 9. Jimenez-Contreras E, Anegon FD, Lopez-Cozar ED. The evolution of research activity in Spain - The impact of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity (CNEAI). Research Policy. 2003;32:123-42. 10. Cami J, Sunen-Pinol E, Mendez-Vazquez R. Bibliometric map of Spain 1994-2002: biomedicine and health sciences. Medicina Clinica. 2005;124:93-101. 11. Cami J, Zulueta MA, Fernandez MT, Bordons M, Gomez I. Spanish scientific production in biomedicine and health sciences during the period 1990-1993 (Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index) and comparison to period 1986-1989. Medicina Clinica. 1997;109:481-96. 12. Gonzalez-Alcaide G, Alonso-Arroyo A, Gonzalez de Dios J, Sempere A, Valderrama-Zurian J, Aleixandre-Benavent R. Coauthorship networks and institutional collaboration in Revista de Neurologia. Revista de neurologia. 2008;46:642-51. 13. Mendez-Vasquez RI, Sunen-Pinyol E, Cervello R, Cami J. Bibliometric map of Spain 1996-2004: biomedicine and health science. Medicina Clinica. 2008;130:246-53. 14. Ascanio AdL-C, Puime AO. Publications on primary care evaluation in Spain after twenty years of reform (1984-2004). Thematic and bibliometric analysis. Revista espanola de salud publica. 2007;81:131-45. 15. Belinchon Carmona M, Boada Munoz L, Garcia de Andres E, Fuentes Biggi J, Posada de la Paz M. Trends in studies on autism in Spain: Publications and authorship networks (1974-2007). Psicothema. 2010;22:242-9. 16. Bolanos-Pizarro M, Thijs B, Glanzel W. Cardiovascular research in Spain. A comparative scientometric study. Scientometrics 2010;85:509-26. 17. Bueno-Aguilera F, Jiménez-Contreras E, Lucena-Martín C, Pulgar-Encinas R. Dental research in Spain. A bibliometric analysis on subjects, authors and institutions (1993-2012). Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2016;21:e142. 18. Garfield E. Citation analysis as a tool in journal evaluation. Science. 1972;178:471-9. 19. Hirsch JE. An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2005;102:16569-72. 20. Egghe L. Distributions of the h-index and the g-index. Proceedings of Issi 2007: 11Th International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, Vols I and II 2007;24553. 21. Alonso S, Cabrerizo F, Herrera-Viedma E, Herrera F. hg-index: A new index to characterize the scientific output of researchers based on the h-and g-indices. Scientometrics. 2009;82:391-400. 22. Costas R, van Leeuwen TN, Bordons M. A Bibliometric Classificatory Approach for the Study and Assessment of Research Performance at the Individual Level: The Effects of Age on Productivity and Impact. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 2010;61:1564-81. Disclaimers The authors do not have any financial interests, either directly or indirectly, in the products or information listed in the paper. One sentence summary This study applied bibliometric indexes to evaluate scientific quality in Dentistry, evaluating Spanish universities. Conflicts of interest The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exist.