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Researchers from the Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine of the UAB have made the first scientific production analysis for a university department in relation with the national scientific production of psychiatry, substance abuse and behavioural sciences.

A relevant point in biomedicine is the difference between basic and clinical research. University departments often gravitate on hospital services and there lie the main research groups. Scientific collaboration requires the joint effort of researchers from different methodologies. This collaboration has been associated with the increased of scientific production, measured by the prestige of journals and the number of citations received. The most active research frontiers have initiated collaborations between clinical and basic research; and Psychiatry is not an exception. To carry out this study, we applied a cross-sectional survey of independent groups(n = 57, 54% men), indicators were applied to production, quality, visibility/distribution and sustained popularity.

Results showed that, this university department published 314 articles and/or reviews (216 international, between 2004 – 2009), and had 974 quotations in the period (16 quots./basic researcher and 11,3 quots./clinical researcher). Contributions at the Thomson Scientific Index come from clinical groups (56.48%), and basic groups (43.52%).The basic groups showed 5.12 of average impact factor of 5.12 and 2 for clinical groups.This department published 11.84% of most cited papers in Spanish psychiatry, 20% in drug addiction and 20.84% in behavioral sciences.

The inconsistent results with other bibliometric studies about these same researchers, shows the need to create indicators and maps of scientific production, which be base on research groups as scientific units (as university departments).