Research

Introduction:

The objective of this paper is to analyse the scientific activity of dental sciences over the last 30 years. Materials and methods Dental-research output was identified by retrieving all citable dental documents in the Web of Science (WoS) database in the periods 1986–1988, 1996–1998, and 2006–2008. For this, a two-phase search strategy was designed: firstly, output in Dentistry, Oral Surgery, and Medicine (DOSM) Journal Citation Reports (JCR) category journals were compiled; secondly, for journal documents of other JCR categories but related to Dentistry (Non-DOSM), an innovative search strategy was designed based on a double criterion, thematic and institutional. Results The results showed that DOSM production increased in absolute but decreased in relative terms over the last 30 years.