Library and Information Science

The present survey of the Year Book of Cancer is concerned with the nature of cancer research spread over the world, the number of research in various fields of cancer studies carried out in many countries, and the number of papers by Japanese cancer researchers reviewed in the year books. It also deals with the major secondary journals or databases indexing and/or abstracting primary journals, some articles of which have been reviewed. These primary journals are checked against the union list of medical journals collected by medical libraries in Japan.

The basic data for the present report were collected from all of the papers reviewed in the Year Book (1969–1978). The number of the papers reviewed in ten years is altogether 3,120, which were taken from 385 titles of journals, 19 monographs, 16 proceedings and 27 dissertations. The reviewed articles were presented by 43 countries; 2,110 papers (67.6% of the total) from U.S., 241 (7.7%) from U.K., 88 (2.8%) from Japan, also 88 from France, 77 (2.3%) from Italy, and 68 (2.2%) from Canada. These 6 countries contribute 85.5% of the total. The subject fields of cancer research are divided into 32 categories in the Year Book, and the contributions by U.S. and U.K. cover all 32 subject fields. Of a total of 88 papers by Japanese researchers, many are found in the categories of “Stomach, Duodenum and Small Bowel,” “Head and Neck,” “Biliary Tract, Liver and Pancreas,” and “Chemotherapy and Hormone Therapy.”

The journals the articles of which were reviewed in the Year Book are issued in 26 countries. A total of 192 titles (49.9%) of the journals are issued in U.S., 46 titles (11.9%) in U.K., 25 (5.7%) in Japan, 19 (4.9%) in France, 11 (2.9%) in Switzerland. A total of journals issued in these 6 countries cover about 80% of the total. The core journals of cancer reseach according to the data gained from the Year Book analysis are: Cancer (413 papers or 13.2%), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (120 articles or 3.9%), American Journal of Roentgenology (101 papers or 3.2%), Radiology (100 articles or 3.2%), and Cancer Research (72 papers or 2.4%). These 5 journals cover 25% of the total.

Of a total of 385 journals, articles of which were reviewed in the year books, 325 titles (84.4%) were indexed and/or abstracted by CANCERLIT, 315 (81.8%) by BOSIS, 299 (77.7%) by EM, 297 (77.1%) by IM, and 288 (74.8%) by SCI. Of these 385 journals, 361 titles (93.8%) are collected in the medical libraries of Japan.