- Home
- A-Z Publications
- Qatar Medical Journal
- Issue Home
Qatar Medical Journal - Current Issue
Volume 2024, Issue 1
- Short Communication
-
-
Medical research production in native languages: A descriptive analysis of PubMed database
More LessIntroduction: Language barriers in medicine can hinder effective communication, comprehension, and patient care. While English has emerged as the dominant language in global medicine, the importance of native languages should not be overlooked. This article aims to examine the extent of publishing in native languages by analyzing the PubMed database literature to gain further insights into the usage of native languages in medicine and medical research.
Methods: In December 2023, a comprehensive examination of the PubMed literature was conducted for each of the 55 registered languages. We searched for records published in each language (e.g., German[lang]) by applying language filters. Ethnologue provided data on the number of worldwide native speakers for each language, facilitating a comparative analysis.
Results: By December 2023, PubMed contained over 36 million publications, with 86.5% of them published in English. German, French, and Russian came after English, with over 700 thousand publications each. Among the languages analyzed, fourteen had fewer than 50 publications, nineteen had fewer than 100, twenty-two had fewer than 500, and twenty-five had fewer than one thousand publications. European languages were well-represented with thousands of publications each, while widely spoken languages such as Hindi and Arabic had limited representation.
Conclusion: The production of medical research in native languages reflects the attention given to native languages in medicine and medical education within each country. It is crucial to provide due attention to these language-related issues and explore strategies for including native languages in medicine to bridge the gaps in language and medicine.
-
Volumes & issues
-
Volume 2024
-
Volume 2023
-
Volume 2022
-
Volume 2021
-
Volume 2020
-
Volume 2019
-
Volume 2017
-
Volume 2016
-
Volume 2015
-
Volume 2014
-
Volume 2013
-
Volume 2012
-
Volume 2011
-
Volume 2010
-
Volume 2009
-
Volume 2008
-
Volume 2007
-
Volume 2006
-
Volume 2005
-
Volume 2004
-
Volume 2003
-
Volume 2002
-
Volume 2001
-
Volume 2000
-
Volume 1998
-
Volume 1997
Most Read This Month Most Read RSS feed
![Loading](/images/jp/spinner.gif)