ORJUELA ROJAS, Juan Manuel. Contributions of Countries with Low and Middle Incomes to Journals with the Highest Impact Factor in Psychiatry. []. , 39, 3, pp.610-616. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: The wide gap in terms of research between high-income countries versus low and middle-income countries not only prevents the development of the latter in terms of evidence-based medicine, but also limits the understanding of psychiatry at a global level. This inequity is evident among the journals with the highest impact around the world, as they mostly publish articles from developed countries. Objectives: To review and discuss the issues involved in the publication of psychiatric literature among high, low and middle-income countries, as well as defining in simple terms the concept of impact factor. Method: Narrative review of the medical literature. Results and Conclusions: Over 90% of the literature found in the journals with highest impact factor in Psychiatry comes from high-income countries, while only about 6%-10% comes from low and middle-income countries, even though the latter represent 80% of the world's population. This shows an important publication bias, which significantly affects the international diffusion of studies conducted in low-income countries or in languages other than English, since journals with the highest impact factor are the main source of information and update of millions of psychiatrists around the world.

: Impact factor; developed countries; developing countries; psychiatry; serial publications.

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