The British Dental Journal: a report on its activities 1986-1991

The contents of 139 issues of the British Dental Journal, published between January 11, 1986 and December 1991, have been analysed. Part I of the Journal contains, on average, one Leader, eleven items of news and notes, 12 letters and eight abstracts/book reviews. One thousand, three hundred and seventeen manuscripts were submitted for publication during the 6-year period. Of these, 403 original articles, 119 case reports and 203 review articles were accepted and published in Part II. Part III of the Journal is devoted to annual and other reports and policy documents, worldwide dentistry, practice management and vocational training, dental electives, trade news, meeting reports and obituaries. Over 40 'strap headings' denoting specialised areas of dentistry were used to describe articles published. Almost one-fifth of the papers were concerned with restorative dentistry. Case reports comprised 14% of the papers published. Oral surgery/oral medicine/oral pathology, and related subjects accounted for nearly 15% of papers published. Articles concerned with community dental health, orthodontics and paediatric dentistry accounted for a similar proportion of the total, as did the section comprising general dental practice, vocational training and practice management. Anaesthesia, analgesia, medical topics, microbiology and therapeutics took up 12% of articles published. The remaining 12% consisted of articles on dental education and research, oral biology, dental history, auxiliaries, dental instruments and diagnostic aids.