title: Most common dermatologic topics published in five high-impact general medical journals, 1970-2012: melanoma, psoriasis, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, and acne.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  General practitioners frequently encounter skin diseases and are accustomed to diagnosing the most common dermatologic conditions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to determine the most common dermatologic topics published in five high-impact general medical journals (New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal (now The BMJ), and Annals of Internal Medicine).
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted an independent search of the Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index for common dermatologic topics, limited to the period 1970 to 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total number of publications dealing with each dermatologic topic considered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The five most common dermatologic topics published were melanoma, psoriasis, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, and acne. Melanoma and psoriasis were the top two dermatologic topics published in each journal except for Annals of Internal Medicine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Internists frequently diagnose herpes simplex, herpes zoster, and acne, which are also common dermatologic topics published. Although internists infrequently diagnose melanoma and psoriasis, they are major topics for general medical journals because of their increased community awareness, major advancements in therapeutic research, and their nondermatologic manifestations.
authors: Clinical Research Fellow in Dermatology at the Los Angeles Medical Center in CA and a Fourth-Year Medical Student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. mikechoi@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors: Young M
authors: YM
authors: Choi
authors: Student of Global Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. anamavar@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors: Aram A
authors: AA
authors: Namavar
authors: Director of Dermatology Research at the Los Angeles Medical Center in CA. jashinwu@hotmail.com.
authors: Jashin J
authors: JJ
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D003880:Dermatology; D006801:Humans; D055811:Journal Impact Factor; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012871:Skin Diseases