Producción científica latinoamericana de fisioterapia / kinesiología

objective: characterize the output of scientific literature in latin america between 2000 and 2007 with respect to physical therapy/ kinesiology. method: the authors conducted a retrospective study of 1,700 articles on physical therapy/kinesiology published in the scielo and lillacs databases. the variables studied were: document frequency, number of documents found, scientific output per country, scientific output for each describer with respect to physical therapy/kinesiology, number of authors, institutional affiliation, type of publication, language, type of study, and number of works listed in the bibliography. results: the trend in scientific output per country shows brazil leads in latin america, with 70.1 % of the scientific output on physical therapy/kinesiology, followed by chile with 13.4 %, colombia and venezuela with 6 %, argentina with 3.4 %, and cuba and peru with less than 1 % of the output. conclusions: although bibliometric studies in only one field of knowledge do not resolve the need to measure scientific activity, they provide clarity and guide research work. knowing what studies on physical therapy/kinesiology have been done in the region will enable academics to generate a latin american research policy that is of benefit to the profession, the community and the context.