Cabral, Bernardo Pereira; Tetzner, Gabriela Araujo; Salles Filho, Sérgio; Pereira, Cesar A. Guimarães; Hollanda, Sandra; Cristofoletti, Evandro Coggo; Pinto, Karen Esteves Fernandes; Juk, Yohanna Vieira; Araujo, Iago; Toledo, Carlos; Cordeiro, Vinícius; Silva, Gessica
In Brazil, health policy formulation, particularly through Clinical Protocols and Therapeutic Guidelines (PCDTs), is significantly influenced by scientific evidence. The National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies into the Unified Health System (CONITEC) approves these PCDTs to standardize healthcare practices, thereby exemplifying the nexus of scientific research and policy. This study analyzes the scientific literature referenced in the PCDTs approved by CONITEC, exploring the flow of knowledge from global scientific research to Brazil’s health policy. Our approach involved a data pipeline for collecting, preprocessing, and analyzing information from scientific publications cited in all CONITEC’s PCDT reports published until 2023. The process encompasses web scraping, pattern recognition, and bibliometric analysis. The study identified references predominantly from the United States and the United Kingdom, with notable contributions from Brazilian sources. Cited research is almost entirely written in English and published in high-impact factor English-language journals. These findings document the global influence on Brazil’s health policies, with a substantial portion of the cited scientific evidence originating from international sources.