Background: Quotations in Brazilian journals are mainly obtained from national articles (articles from Brazilian journals); thus, it is essential to determine how frequently these articles reference Brazilian journals.
Objective: This study sought to verify how frequently national papers are cited in the references of three Brazilian physical therapy journals.
Method: All references for articles published in Fisioterapia em Movimento, Fisioterapia e Pesquisa and Revista Brasileira de Fisioterapia between 2010 and 2012 were evaluated. In particular, the numbers of national articles and international articles (articles from international journals) cited in these references were determined.
Results: A total of 13,009 references cited by 456 articles were analyzed, and 2,924 (22.47%) of the cited works were national articles. There were no significant differences among the three examined years. A total of 36 (7.89%) articles did not cite national articles, whereas 65 (13.25%) articles cited more national articles than international articles.
Conclusion: On average, 22.47% of the works cited by the evaluated articles were national articles. No significant differences were detected among the three analyzed years.