title: Nicotine don't get no respect: a replication test.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although nicotine/tobacco use is the most prevalent, most deadly, and most treatable drug problem, a 1994 study by the author found that few scientific articles that generally discussed "drug/substance abuse/dependence/use" included nicotine as a focus. This analysis tested if this finding is still true in journals published in 2010-2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  A random sample (n = 100) of articles whose titles used the term "drug/substance abuse/dependence/use" or "addiction" and did not refer to specific drugs in the 2010-2011 issues of the 5 leading drug abuse/addiction journals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One fourth (25%) of these articles included nicotine/tobacco dependence/use or smoking as a focus, whereas 82% included alcohol or an illicit drug as a focus (p < .001). Only 3 articles (4%) mentioned the exclusion of tobacco/nicotine dependence/use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest most researchers consider nicotine/tobacco dependence/use to be different from other types of drug dependence. Whether nicotine is included when the term "drug/substance dependence/abuse/use" is used in a scientific article varies and could lead to confusion about the prevalence, harms, costs, treatment methods, etc. associated with drug use. The author recommends the use of the adjective "non-nicotine" when appropriate to avoid confusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Burlington, VT 05401, USA. john.hughes@uvm.edu
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D009538:Nicotine