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LILACS database: eighteenyears indexing Latin American

and Caribbean health sciences

journals

Regina C. Figueiredo Castro

BIREME/PAHO/WHO

10th International Conference of Science Editors,

Rio de Janeiro, August 2000

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BIREME

Latin American and Caribbean HealthSciences Information Center

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Regional

Center for health sciences information

Coordinates a network of libraries and documentation

centers comprising 37 countries of Latin America and the

Caribbean

Develops computer applications, methodologies,

information products and services to improve scientific

communication and dissemination of information in

countries of the Region

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Bibliographic control of literature

Since 1974 BIREME is a MEDLARS International

Center:

- indexing LA&C health journals for MEDLINE

database;

- translating MESH (Medical Subject Headings)

to Spanish and Portuguese

One of the main objectives of BIREME is the

bibliographic control of health scientific and technical

literature produced in the Region

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Health TerminologySince 1982, BIREME produces a controlled vocabulary -

DeCS (Health Science Descriptors), which includes

translated MeSH terms and new subject categories inPublic Health and Homeopathy fields, in three languages:

Spanish, Portuguese and English

DeCS terms in Spanish and Portuguese are

included in UMLS (Unified Medical Language

System)

DeCS is used for indexing LA&C journals for

MEDLINE and LILACS

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Database production

In 1982, IMLA database expanded its thematic scope

(from Medicine to Health Sciences, including PublicHealth) and indexed more journal titles and other types

of documents, generating LILACS database

In 1978, BIREME started the Index Medicus

Latinoamericano (IMLA) as a complement to U.S. NLM

MEDLINE database. 150 Latin American healthscientific journals were selected to initiate IMLA

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LILACS

Latin American and CaribbeanHealth Sciences Literature

LILACS indexes: scientific journal articles, books, book

chapters, thesis, conference papers, scientific

and technical reports and nonconventional

literature produced by Latin American and Caribbean

authors and published in countries of the

Region

from 1982 on

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Why LILACS?

Because Latin American and Caribbean health

scientific production was almost absent from

international databases

Due to the need to include other types ofdocuments such us: governmental publications,

books, conference proceedings, reports and

nonconventional literature, mainly for the Public

Health field

To improve bibliographic control of scientific

production in the health sciences field generated in

Latin American and Caribbean countries

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Indexing of LA&C health scientific

journals

Journals

LILACS 699

SciELO* 42

MEDLINE 43

EMBASE 49

JCR/ISI 21

* Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba and Public Health

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0

50

100

150

200

250

CostaRica

Uruguay

Bolivia

Peru

Colombia

Cuba

Equador

Chile

Mexico

Venezuela

Argentina

Brazil

Other

LILACS journals by country of

publication

Dominican Rep.,

Guatemala,

Honduras,

Jamaica,

Panama,

Paraguay,

Puerto Rico,

USA (PAHO)

Total: 699 journals

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Decentralized input to LILACS

More than 400 Cooperating Centers from 37 countries

of the Region input records to LILACS

250,816 records by July 2000

Annual average input in the last 3 years: 23,000

records

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Scientific production in LILACS

by country of publication

Brazil

40%

Chile10%

Argentina

10%Mexico

9%

Other

10%

Venezuela

5%

Cuba

4%Colombia

4%USA

(PAHO)

5%

Peru

3%

Total:250,816 records

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0

50

100

150

200