[Spanish scientific production in anesthesiology and resuscitation 1983-1995]

To quantify and analyze the information available internationally on Spanish scientific productivity in anesthesiology from 1983 through 1995.

Publications by Spanish authors indexed in three electronic databases: the Spanish Indice Médico (SIM), MedLine, and Embase (belonging to Excerpta Médica).

A bibliometric study of productivity as reflected by entries in the 3 databases, quantifying documents in circulation, change over time in circulating documents, overlap, and article's characteristics.

During the period studied, a total of 2608 papers by Spanish anesthesiologists were indexed in the 3 databases (SIM 79%, Medline 54%, Excerpta Médica 29.5%). Annual growth was 16.7%, with a period of 10.2 years until duplication.

Growth is exponential in anesthesiology, as in other disciplines, and the distribution satisfies Price's law. The 3 databases are the major collectors of the papers of Spanish anesthesiologists. The SIM and MedLine are the main indexers of Spanish-authored articles in the literature. Excerpta presents the largest growth on the compilation of articles. The inclusion of the three databases is essential in bibliographic searches and bibliometric studies on Spanish anesthesiology.