[下个千年MEDLINE将使用哪种语言？]

Sousa Escandón M A, González Guitián C, González Fernández M M

Servicio de Urología, Hospital Comarcal de Monforte, Lugo.

Arch Esp Urol. 2000 Mar;53(2):93-9.

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the trends in the prevalence of the languages used in Medline, since its creation up to the present time, for the overall indexed articles in this database and those specifically related to the field of Urology. The results are extrapolated to determine the trend over the next 15 years.

METHODS

The Pubmed page on Internet (http:www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/nlm. html) and the Medline database (OldMedline 1960-1965 and current Medline 1966-1999) were accessed to determine the total number of indexed articles and the distribution by year, language and country. The same method was applied for articles specifically pertaining to the field of Urology.

RESULTS

Overall, English accounts for 75% of the nearly 10 million articles indexed in Medline since its creation. The prevalence of the English language has grown steadily since 1966 when it already accounted for 53% of these indexed articles up to 89% in 1999, for a yearly increase of 1%. Similar results were found for the articles specifically pertaining to the field of Urology. The number of the indexed articles in the English language has grown to almost 400% since 1966, whereas those written in other languages have dropped by 40%. In some countries like Holland, Germany or Japan, most of the articles are published in English.

CONCLUSIONS

If the current trend continues, all the articles indexed in the Medline database will comprise only those written in the English language by 2014.

目的

分析自创建以来至目前Medline中所使用语言的流行趋势，针对该数据库中所有索引文章以及与泌尿外科领域特别相关的文章。推断结果以确定未来15年的趋势。

方法

访问互联网上的Pubmed页面（http:www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/nlm.html）和Medline数据库（1960 - 1965年的旧Medline以及1966 - 1999年的当前Medline），以确定索引文章的总数以及按年份、语言和国家的分布情况。对专门涉及泌尿外科领域的文章采用相同方法。

结果

总体而言，自创建以来，英文文章占Medline中近1000万篇索引文章的75%。自1966年以来，英语的流行率稳步上升，当时它已占这些索引文章的53%，到1999年增至89%，年增长率为1%。在专门涉及泌尿外科领域的文章中也发现了类似结果。自1966年以来，英文索引文章数量增长至近400%，而其他语言撰写的文章数量下降了40%。在一些国家，如荷兰、德国或日本，大多数文章以英文发表。