Introduction: The aim of this study is to take a scientometric approach to the Neonatology research area in Spain during the period from 2002 to 2006 using the Web of Knowledge (WoK) bibliometric tools.

Method: A bibliometric study in two WoK databases (Science Citation Index and Journal Citation Reports) involving articles related to neonatology research in Spain published between 2002 and 2006 was conducted. The variables analyzed were authors, affiliation, document type, journal, impact factor and citations.

Results: One hundred fifty-seven articles, mostly original articles (71%) and collaborative studies (70%), were retrieved (19 from 2002, 26 from 2003, 31 from 2004, 39 from 2005 and 42 from 2006). Clinical research was scarce (3%). There was a progressive increase in the total impact factor (22,142 in 2002 and 104,171 in 2006) and in the average impact factor (1,165 in 2002 and 2,481 in 2006). The publication pattern was distributed into three groups: General Pediatrics, Neonatology and Spanish journals. Several research teams were identified in Spanish tertiary hospitals, secondary level hospitals and collaborative networks. No relationship was observed between the impact factor of the journal in which the article was published and the number of citations received. The most frequently cited areas were related to the use of oxygen in the reanimation of the newborn and to respiratory syncytial virus infection.

Conclusions: Neonatology research in Spain in the period from 2002 to 2006 showed a progressive improvement in its impact, both from a quantitative (number of articles in the Science Citation Index) and a qualitative perspective (total and average impact factor).

Thomson Reuter distributes its databases through the Web of Knowledge, allowing the search in Web of Science (WOS), Current Contents Connect, Proceedings and Journal Citations Reports. Since the year 2004, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) provides the Spanish scientific community, research institutes, universities, and other Spanish R&D institutions with WOK access. This paper presents the process and stages that are involved in finding works in Science Citation Index through the Web of Science according to the different options that the database offers (search, advanced search); citations received by a particular author or work (Cited Reference Search) and impact factor and other bibliometric indicators (total times cited for each journal or 5-year impact factor or immediacy index, among others) of the journals that are part of the coverage of the Social Science Citation Index and Science Citation Index in Journal Citation Reports.

MEDLINE is a bibliographic database produced by the National Library of Medicine of the United States. It contains over 20 million references since 1948, with coverage that exceeds the 5,400 international journals and monthly increases of more than 30,000 new references. The free PubMed platform, established in 1997, provides access to MEDLINE and general scientific journals, life sciences and books. Among the advantages of PubMed should be highlighted: constant updating for querying very recent records; access to free full text of numerous journals; links to related articles; the possibility of seting up many limits to searching; the value-added services, as the search with the MeSH thesaurus Database, assistant for clinical searches, alert services and content syndication information and the database of journals, among others. Embase includes over 23 million records since 1974 from more than 7,500 journals and monographs, theses and meeting abstracts. LILACS provides scientific literature in health sciences from 670 journals published in American and Caribbean countries.

The vast information overload existing nowadays and the large number of sources collecting it, requires that professionals find by themselves the scientific information that they need for medical practice and research tasks. Practitioners must become familiar with the use of new Information and Communication Technologies that are in charge of the dissemination and access to information, as well as the methodology for conducting reliable literature searches. In order to achieve it, they must know the controlled retrieval languages of some databases (such as the Medical Subject Headings MeSH of MEDLINE) and the tools for adjusting the search results according to their needs for accuracy or exhaustivity in information retrieval. This paper describes the steps that have to be followed in conducting literature searches in bibliographic databases, as well as the main methodological aspects to be taken into account.

This paper describes the most relevant Spanish health bibliographic databases, those of general subjects such as the Índice Médico Español (IME), Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud (IBECS) and Medicina en Español (MEDES), as well as those of specific subject as CUIDEN (specialized in Nursing), ENFISPO (Nursing, Physiotherapy and Pediatry) and Compludoc (with references from articles published in more than 4.000 Spanish and foreign journals received in the library of the Complutense University of Madrid). Main features are detailed such as the producing entity, the starting year, size or number of records contained, the number of biomedical journals, the list of pediatric journals and the number of records included in them, are detailed. Some other features, such as the various possibilities of finding information (simple, advanced by fields or by indexes), the use of Boolean operators or their equivalent, truncation of terms and the existence of control of the terminology, are also discussed. IME is the database with greater coverage in pediatrics, and the Spanish journal Acta Pediátrica Española is included in the three general databases.

Thomson Reuter distributes its databases through the Web of Knowledge, allowing the search in Web of Science (WOS), Current Contents Connect, Proceedings and Journal Citations Reports. Since the year 2004, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) provides the Spanish scientific community, research institutes, Universities, and other Spanish R&D institutions with WOK access. This paper presents the process and stages that are involved in finding works in Science Citation Index through the Web of Science according to the different options that the database offers (search, advanced search); citations received by a particular author or work (Cited Reference Search) and impact factor and other bibliometric indicators (total times cited for each journal or 5-Year Impact Factor or immediacy index, among others) of the journals that are part of the coverage of the Social Science Citation Index and Science Citation Index in Journal Citation Reports.