Analysis of acanthocephalan literature published since 1900

The data for this study are based on more than 6000 articles that mention Acanthocephala. The results indicate: (1) the difficulty in being current on world literature. It took about 3 years beyond the date of publication to discover many articles. (2) Except for World Wars I and II there has been a sustained increase in the number of articles. At present this rate exceeds 1000 titles per 5-year period. (3) Investigator interest, as measured by multiple publications by a given author, has remained very small. (4) Most publications have originated in the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. followed by Great Britain and Germany. (5) Number of authors per title has increased dramatically. Currently, there are more four-author than single-author articles. (6) Fish are host animals most likely to be mentioned as containing acanthocephalans.