Abstract
Literature searches are commonly performed by medical professionals when carrying out research and during study of a particular topic. Traditionally this was performed manually in a library using a system called index medicus, developed in the early years of the 20th century, and was an arduous task. Over recent years, this has commonly been performed online using electronic search engines, which has drastically reduced the difficulty and time involved in performing a thorough literature search.
Electronic versions of index medicus began in 1964 and were termed MEDLARS. Medline was developed soon after and for many years available on CD-ROM within libraries. In 1997, PUBMED became free to all online, incorporating Medline. (1) Use of online electronic search engines has increased enormously over recent years. In 1996 7 million searches were performed per annum, increasing to 400 million searches per annum in 2001. (1)
The researcher has the ability online to identify articles dating back to 1966, some 39 years of published research and articles to digest.
We performed a retrospective study of 100 medical professionals in a busy district general hospital in the UK with the purpose of identifying how retrospective many of the searches were.
Results showed only 29% of subjects researched papers more than 15 years old, with 65% of subjects only looking at papers 10 years old or younger.
Our study shows that many researchers are now ignoring articles beyond a certain age, and as a result much important research is being largely ignored and possibly repeated.
The abstracts were prepared by Major SA Adams. Correspondence should be addressed to Major M Butler, CSOS, Institute of Naval Medicine, Crescent Road, Alverstoke, Hants PO12 2DL
