[Research in primary care: 1994-2003]

To analyse the characteristics of the original articles published in the journal Atención Primaria (Primary Care) during the last 10 years.

Literature study.

Primary health care.

Original articles published in Atención Primaria between 1994 and 2003.

The professional category of the authors, whether it was a multidisciplinary or multicentred study, the autonomous community of origin, the topic, the type of study, and if it had a grant or financial assistance.

1229 articles have been reviewed. In 40.0% of them a family doctor is included in the authorship. 31.4% can be considered multidisciplinary and 20.5% multicentred. The Communities of Valencia, Madrid, Andalusia, and Catalonia took up 60% of the volume of publications. The most common topic is the provision and organisation of the health services (40.5%). Only 4.3% of the designs are experimental. A grant or financial aid is stated in 16.2% of the articles.

Although the situation as regards the previous years has not varied too much, some positive findings, such as the emergence of research groups, increasing presence of multicentre and multidisciplinary studies, better access to sources of finance, etc, suggest that we are in a process of improving the quality of research in primary care.