Table 1. Bibliometric parameters used to characterize and assess the quality of Italian and UK journals.
| Parameter | Description | Source |
| Publishes research on humans | At least one paper in 2000–2007 indexed with the MeSH term “human” | PubMed |
| Publishes research on animals | At least one paper in 2000–2007 indexed with the MeSH term “animal” excluding the subcategory “human” | PubMed |
| Size | Mean number of papers per year, 2000–2007 | ESearcha |
| Start year | First year of publication | NLM Journals Database |
| International editorial board | At least one member from a country different from the publishing country | Journals' websites |
| International authorship | Percentage of articles in 2005 (excluding letters) with first author from a country different from the publishing country | PubMed |
| Language | A journal was considered to publish in a particular language if at least 10% of articles in 2005 were in that language | PubMed |
| Online archive | Electronic collection of all published articles from any point in time to the present; back files not continuous with the present excluded | Journals' online archives |
| PubMed link | Direct link from articles in PubMed to the journal's online archive | PubMed |
| Archive coverage | Number of years consecutive with the present in which archive coverage is complete | Journals' online archives |
| Archive access | ||
| Open access | Published papers freely available immediately upon publication | Journals' online archives |
| Open access after embargo | Published papers freely available 6–24 months after publication | Journals' online archives |
| Publication type | ||
| Letters | Expressed as percentage of all papers published in 2000–2007 (all journals) | ESearcha |
| Randomized controlled trials | Expressed as percentage of all clinical trials published in 2000–2007 (for journals that published at least one clinical trial) | ESearcha |
| Impact factor | 2006 | Journal Citation Reportsc |
| SCImago journal rank | 2006 | SCImagob |
| H index | 1996–2006 | SCImagob |
| Cites/document | 2006 | SCImagob |
a
ESearch function of Entrez programming E-Utilities, eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
b
www.scimagojr.com.
c
Thomson Scientific.