Introduction: There is a growing concern about the scientific production in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) field, making it essential to have bibliometric assessments to estimate current status and trends.

Methods: A search was performed in Web of Knowledge platform (Thomson Reuters, ISI), using an algorithm to include all publications between 2001 and 2010 of four leading OMS journals. This variables was evaluated: country, author, institution, year and journal.

Results: 6149 publications was founded. Most productive countries were United States (21.1%), followed by England (12.9%), Japan (10.1%), Germany (9.7%) and China (6.5%). Most prolific authors correspond to Brenan (57), Dodson (41), White (41), Phillips (36), Yamamoto (36), Ellis (35), Iizuka (35), Neukam (35) and Wiltfang (35). Most productive institutions were Harvard University (96), University Texas (94), University North Carolina (72), University Hong Kong (64) and Massachusetts General Hospital (61). Biggest volume of publications was for “Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery” (45.3%), followed by “International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery” (24.3%), “British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery” (19.8%) and “Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery” (10.6%). In 2001 there were 375 publications, while 2010 were 810, representing a 116% growth.

Discussion: Results shows two relevant issues, first, there is a strong concentration of OMS scientific production in United States/England, and its institutions/surgeons; and second, there has been a significant growth in the volume of publications over last decade. It is necessary to create and strengthen new scientific sources in OMS.

Conflict of interest: None declared.