
This study examines the virtual infrastructures of the regional Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences System (BIREME )based in Brazil. BIREME offers a regional health information system for collaboration in scientific research, education, and evidence-based health care. Virtual infrastructures refer to an environment characterized by overlapping distribution networks accessible through Internet portals and websites designed to facilitate integrated use of available resources. The objective of this paper is to identify open source system design and scalability at the regional level of analysis using theoretical perspectives from institutional economics and knowledge ecology. Qualitative case analysis reveals patterns of linkage among national and regional health information systems including emerging roles of social media in system integration. The social medicine ideology shared among countries of the Latin American region serves as a foundation for the principles of open access to health information and research, and open source software for development of scalable infrastructures.
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 1 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
