A bibliometric study of the trend in articles related to epidemiology published in occupational health journals.

OBJECTIVES To study the role assumed by epidemiology in occupational health literature and characterise its change over the years. METHODS A bibliometric study was conducted with a MEDLINE search to evaluate 9024 articles published in eight representative occupational health journals for the period 1980-93. Articles related to epidemiology were found by descriptors indexed in the articles and their numbers and proportions among all published articles was tabulated for the study period. RESULTS The proportion of source items indexed by epidemiology as a descriptor increased over threefold from 7.9% (42/534) in 1980 to over 25% after 1990. Epidemiology was indexed most frequently as a subheading associated with other descriptors-for example, occupational diseases-epidemiology. Cohort studies had the largest increase in the descriptors that indicated epidemiological type of studies during the period studied. CONCLUSION Epidemiology is assuming increasing importance in occupational health literature. This was shown quantitatively and qualitatively by the use of descriptors in the MEDLINE database.