Current situation of literature database of concerning Oriental medicine in Japan

Kazuhiko Horiguchi* and Kiichiro Tsutani**

*School of International Health, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
**Dept. of Clinical Pharmacology, Div. of Information Medicine, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

JMEDICINE is one of the databases provided by JOIS (JICST Online Information System), focusing on the medical information published in Japan. It is composed by two files of JICST(Japan Information Center for Science and Technology) and of Japan Medical Abstracts Society(JAMAS). JICST file contains some 11,050,000 citations in the broad spectrum of science, technology and medicine (since 1975). Annual input is approx. 600,000 citations, of which 30% originates from Japan. JAMAS is an authoritative medical information service in Japan, and has published an abstract journal, "IGAKU CHUO ZASSHI" since 1903. Their compilation was computerized in 1983, and electronic information, covered from 1981 on JICST file and from 1983 on JAMAS file, has been provided for this database.
Thus, JMEDICINE can be regarded as the most comprehensive database on medical information in Japan. List of serials in the field of Oriental medicine indexed in JMEDICINE was reported1). It revealed that 54 Oriental medicine-related journals were on JMEDICINE. It meant that 2.5% of journals listed in JMEDICINE(approx. 2300 journals) were related to Oriental medicine. The starting year of publication, the starting year of indexing, and the number of articles in the 54 serials indexed in JMEDICINE were surveyed2). Since 1986 JMEDICINE can be accessed from abroad under certain contract assignment, but in Japanese.
JOIS started to provide service in English with JICST-E File, whicih contains more than 2.5 million translations of citations from JICST file. JICST-E, which is an English-language bibliographic database comprised of documents on scientific and technical information including Oriental medicine published in Japan, is accessible through the Internet , the STN international and the CompuServe.

REFERENCES

1) Tsutani K, Namiki T, Muramatsu S. List of serials in the field of 'Toyo-Igaku' (Oriental medicine) indexed in JMEDICINE Nihon Toyo Igaku Zashi (Japanese Journal of Oriental Medicine) 1993; 43(4): 63-67. (in Japanese)
2) Tsutani K, Namiki T, Muramatsu S. Starting year of indexing and number of articles in the 54 serials in the field of 'Toyo-Igaku' (Oriental medicine) indexed in JMEDICINE, Nihon Toyo Igaku Zashi(Japanese Journal of Oriental Medicine) 1994; 45(1): 159-164. (in Japanese)