Aiming to analyze the relationship between the impact factor of publications and the concept of graduate nutrition and food programs, 39 programs were selected from the years 2001-2003 from 4 Committees (Agrarian, Foods, Medicine II and Nutrition and Zootechny). Even though scientific publications are highly valued, their application in the conceptualization of programs is very limited. A very poor correlation (r²= 0.0611) between the concept given to the program and the annual mean of the impact factor per professor per program was found. On the other hand, 48.6% of the articles produced from 2001 to 2003 by these programs were sent to journals that are unindexed by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI). Among the graduate programs analyzed in this period, there were 1149 (51%) published in 231 journals not indexed by the Institute of Scientific Information and 1216 (49%) studies published in 331 journals indexed by the Institute of Scientific Information. These data suggest that there is a need to improve the intellectual production in the area of Food and Nutrition in the sense of adjusting the measures of production in order to recognize the particularities of scientific production in this area. It is also necessary to develop mechanisms to include the measurement of the impact factor in national publications.
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior; impact factor; nutrition; journals
