An Inventory of Publications on Computer-Based Medical Records: An Update

OBJECTIVES In 1998, we reported a steady increase in the number of publications indexed in MedLine with the MeSH term 'Medical Records Systems, Computerized'. No signs indicating an increasing interest of high-impact medical journals to publish on the computer-based patient record could be determined. In this review we provide an update. METHODS We retrieved and analyzed all English publications indexed before Feb 22, 2002 in PubMed with the MeSH term 'Medical Records Systems, Computerized'. RESULTS We retrieved a total of 5856 publications, of which 1824 (31%) appeared in a journal with an impact factor in the year of publication. The total impact-score shows an upward trend. CONCLUSIONS The results show that the earlier observed increase in number of publications did not persist in the second half of the nineteen-nineties. Since the mid-nineties, there has been a steady yearly production of publications indexed with the MeSH term, reflecting a sustained interest in the domain. However, the volume of publications appearing in journals with higher impact factors is increasing. Furthermore, high-impact journals, such as the "British Medical Journal", the "Lancet" and "Annals of Internal Medicine" regularly publish on the subject, reflecting an interest well beyond the medical informatics community.