[Bibliography in clinical biochemistry: analysis of the literature beginning with a computerized data bank]

In which fields of medicine, and in which journals does one publish the majority of articles which concern clinical biochemistry? We are trying to reply to this question by studying the basis of the biographical data developed in our laboratory, proceeding from the perusal of 290 journals and representing 16 802 articles stored from 1978 to 1983. Clinical Chemistry is the most important journal as far as number of articles is concerned, but less articles arises from journals of clinical biochemistry than from those of general medicine and internal medicine. The theme "lipoproteins and atherosclerosis" is the most prolific. It is studied in more detail. In a general way, a theme is rarely covered in a satisfactory manner with 5 journals or less. We think that, faced with the great dispersion of the same theme across the medical literature, our results will help the biologist to make a choice both from the point of view of contract and biographical research.