Critical analysis of physical therapy groups promoting scientific research in Colombia. A cross sectional study

Resumo

Objective. To analyze of physical therapy groups promoting scientific research in Colombia. Material and methods. Were individually analyzed all curricula vitae from researchers in the available field in the COLCIENCIAS database of CvLac-database. We also analyzed the statistical reports on scientific production available on the Scienti-website (http://www.colciencias.gov.co/scienti/). Scientific production and level of training was evaluated of 43 curricula during the months of April and May 2012 for the collection of information and this information was analyzed in June 2012. Results. We identified 768 usable records (Biomedical and Health Science). Of the articles included, 942 were original research reports. The number of publications in Colombia grew ten-fold between 1990 and 2010. Between 1990 and 2003, the growth rate was 9% per year, whereas from 2005 and 2008 the rate dropped to about 10% per year. The average number of included articles published per year was 45 with a range from 12 to 187. A nonlinear, bimodal distribution of articles published per year was observed (R2=0.85), with peak publications in 1992 and 2011. There was a significant difference in publication productivity over the 10 years across (P<0.001). Pair-wise comparisons revealed that groups with Master´s degree produced significantly more publications (median=19) than any other category, with the exception of Doctoral degree (median=13). Conclusion. This study provides ample direction for future inquiry regarding the status of curriculum and of scholars in physical therapy. However, this production is still lower than that of other Latin American countries having similar socioeconomic and demographic conditions