title: [How can I keep up with my literature?].
abstract: To keep up with the literature, the author and his wife have personal home subscriptions to the 'big five' general medical journals, two top general science journals, and close to a dozen specialist journals. Two of the general medical journals are regularly read in more depth. Since computerized search systems permit almost immediate retrieval on whatever subject at whatever work location, the author keeps no filing system of the items of interest. For three (slowly growing) subjects that transgress the boundaries of the usual keywords of search systems, copies of papers are collected in piles: (a) important methodological papers (which may have been published anywhere, on any subject), (b) papers about concepts of the origin and evolution of diseases, and (c) papers of strong general interest. The disadvantage of not keeping track of the literature by a personal filing system is that the author regularly forgets about papers and books he already has; the advantage is that no time is spent keeping a personal filing system.
authors.affiliation: Academisch Ziekenhuis, afd. Klinische Epidemiologie, Leiden.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vandenbroucke
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D018156:Journalism, Medical
vernacular_title: Hoe houd ik mijn literatuur bij?