Publishing trends in Chinese medicine and related subjects documented in WorldCat.
BACKGROUND
Chinese medicine (CM) has been the subject of increasing interest in the past 30 years, both as a discipline and in the larger context of alternative medicine. It has steadily been accepted by and integrated into the medical and health-care fields in many countries.


OBJECTIVE
This study aims to gain an overview of how CM has been interpreted and presented to the world outside China and to identify emerging trends.


METHODS
This study is designed to analyse the publishing trends of CM and related subjects in all languages except Chinese, ranging from books and serials to audio-visual and electronic resources found in WorldCat, the world's largest bibliographic database produced by OnLine Computer Library Center (OCLC).


RESULTS
The findings showed a flourishing growth of publications in CM and related subjects beginning in the 1970s with greater coverage on acupuncture. The materials in English language constitute the major portion of total output.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that Chinese medicine has steadily gained recognition in the world based on the analysis of publication records. The translation of original works and analysis of journal literature and conference proceedings on Chinese medicine merit further study.
Leung
Shirley
S
Hong Kong Baptist University Library, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. shirleyleung@pacbell.net
Chan
Kylie
K
Song
Lisa
L
D026881:Acupuncture / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015706:Bibliometrics; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008419:Materia Medica; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D011643:Publishing / Q000639:trends*; D012013:Reference Books; D013358:Subject Headings
D008419:Materia Medica