Background: The aims of this study were: to quantify the Spanish scientific production with international repercussion, to determine the degree of world diffusion and the participation of the different autonomic communities and the organisms implicated with reference to the area of sciences of alimentation and nutrition between 1987 to 1990.
Methods: Articles published during this period of time were selected by the Medline system, delimiting Spanish production. The articles selected were classified according to autonomic communities and institutions and in relation to the subsection of the area in question. The impact factor obtained from the Science Citation Index was used as an indicator of scientific diffusion. The autonomic communities of Catalonia and Madrid made up almost 50% of the scientific production between 1987 and 1989 with greater participation being observed from the other communities in 1990. The institutions of greatest scientific contribution were the medical and science schools. Thirty percent of the articles referred to experimental nutrition and toxicology of alimentation.
Conclusions: a) Spanish participation in the diffusion of scientific studies on nutrition is similar to global participation in medical sciences, b) in 1990 an attenuation was detected in the differences existing in the degree of participation by the autonomic communities in the national scientific production; c) the schools of Medicine make up the institutions with greater relevance in scientific production while this activity is not reflected within the hospitals.