title: Titles and abstracts of scientific reports ignore variation among species.
abstract: An analysis of more than 1000 research articles in biology reveals that the name of the species being studied is not mentioned in the title or abstract of many articles. Consequently, such data are not easily accessible in the PubMed database. These omissions can mislead readers about the true nature of developmental processes and delay the acceptance of valid species differences. To improve the accuracy of the scientific record, I suggest that journals should require that authors include the name of the species being studied in the title or abstract of submitted papers.
authors.affiliation: Barbara R Migeon McKusick Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States.
authors.forename: Barbara R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Migeon
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D000818:Animals; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D011643:Publishing; D012586:Science; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: D. melanogaster; E. coli; X inactivation; developmental biology; evolutionary biology; genomics; human; mouse; scientific publishing; species variation; stem cells