Introduction: medical literature users have acces to many published studies with variable methodological quality for several reasons. A description of the characteristics of publications retrieved from cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology and pneumology, through PubMed, including quality characteristics by PubMed Clinical Queries filters, language and decade of publication was carried out. Methodology: a descriptive study. Ten MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) Medline terms representative of cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology and pneumology were selected. PubMed searches were performed with and without quality filters of Clinical Queries in diagnosis and treatment, search by language and by decade of publication. Results: 520 searches were conducted in PubMed. 498 952 publications were found in diagnosis and treatment; 16% are studies with quality features; 23% in cardiology, 13% pneumology, 13% Caracteristicas de estudios publicados en areas del conocimiento de medicina interna incluyendo calidad, idioma y decada de publicacion Characteristics of studies published in areas of knowledge of internal medicine including quality, language and decade of publication Mauricio Alvarez, rodolfo dennis, carlos villar • Bogota, D.C. (ColomBia) Dr. Mauricio Alvarez: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Rosario, Programa de Posgrado en Medicina Interna; Dr. Rodolfo Dennis: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Rosario, Programa de Posgrado en Medicina Interna. Fundacion Cardioinfantil, Instituto de Cardiologia. Departamento de Investigaciones; Dr. Carlos Villar: Fundacion Cardioinfantil, Instituto de Cardiologia. Departamento de Investigaciones. Correspondencia. Dr. Mauricio Alvarez. Fundacion Cardioinfantil Instituto de Cardiologia, Bogota, D.C. (Colombia). E-mail: maoandrade1020@hotmail.com Recibido: 29/X/2014 Aceptado: 01/IX/2015