The biomedical information explosion: from the index-catalogue to MEDLARS

This study demonstrates the growth of medical periodical literature by means of the increase of titles indexed in the Index-Catalogue and in Index Medicus, with reference to other biomedical-related titles not covered in these publications. Stress is laid on the fact that information outside the biomedical area is needed by the researcher. Problems of information retrieval, with the specific needs of the user in mind, are discussed, together with the particular problems of indexing which this specificity raises.