Qualitative and quantitative analyses of anatomists’ research: evaluation of multidisciplinarity and trends in scientific production

Our aim was to evaluate the impact of anatomy as a multidisciplinary area and to identify trends in research by anatomists over time. Data from three main sources were analyzed: SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR), using the number of total documents as indicator; MEDLINE (PubMed) database (1898 through October 2012), using the keyword “anatomy” in the “affiliation” field; and the Journal Citation Report (JCR), gathering impact factor and quartile data. The number of publications by anatomists increased between 1898 and 1941, followed by a reduction until 1961 and then by a marked rise to reach 36,686 between 2002 and 2012. After 1941, anatomists began to publish in journals from JCR categories other than “Anatomy & Morphology”, especially after 1962. Between 2007 and 2012, only 22.23 % of articles by anatomists in JCR-indexed journals were in the “Anatomy & Morphology” area and 77.77 % in journals from other categories; 58 % of their articles were in journals in the first and second quartiles. The contribution of anatomists to scientific knowledge is high quality and considerably greater than indicated by the SJR database. This input is especially relevant in the Neurosciences, Cell Biology, and Biology categories. In addition, more than two-thirds of manuscripts by anatomists appear in JCR-ranked publications, and more than half in the top two quartiles of the impact factor ranking. Our results show that the scientific production of anatomists has improved the quantity and quality of multi-disciplinary scientific activity in different knowledge areas.