Objectives The objectives of the present study were twofold, to describe international scientific production in occupational health and to examine international collaboration in this discipline.

Methods A bibliometric study was carried out, using Science Citation Index, in order to evaluate the articles published during the period 1992-2001 in eight representative occupational health journals. Scientific production, collaborative profiles for each country, and the significant relationships established between countries are reported.

Results One or more institutions in the United States had contributed to over 40% of the articles examined. The United States was followed by the United Kingdom (9.15%) and then Sweden (8.65%). When population size effects were eliminated, the Scandinavian countries proved to be the leading producers. After correction for gross domestic product, there was an increase in the ranking of apparently scientifically modest countries. The Scandinavian countries remained high. In terms of international collaboration in general, there was an inverse relationship between the production of a country and the proportion of articles co-authored with institutions in other countries. Finally, the significant relationships between countries permitted the identification of up to six large collaboration nuclei.

Conclusions The high absolute and relative Scandinavian production is suggestive of the great importance of occupational health in these countries. Access to publication by more modest countries, scientifically speaking, is observed to occur through collaboration with the high-production countries. In this sense, it would seem necessary to study the basis underlying these relationships. Finally, the characterization of the collaborative nuclei does not differ greatly from what was expected.

Key terms bibliometrics; international collaboration; occupational health; scientific production