Annals of Internal Medicine 100(3) p.457, 1984
Publication Dates
To THE EDITOR: The letter by Cooper and Ridgeway (1) illustrates the “bum rap” that secondary services receive through false publication dates(2).Endocrinologica Japonica is a journal that is consistently late, lagging as much as 10 months. The "1981" issue of the journal containing the Hamada article was received by us on 6 July 1982. The issue in question appeared in Current Contents within a few weeks of receipt.
Although Current Contents can try to persuade journals to be honest about their publication dates we cannot force them to adhere to unwritten international standards. Lacking a World Court of Science how can one enforce unwritten laws? Peer pressure goes a long way. The editor of Endocinologica Japonica should realize how serious these “trivial” housekeeping matters can become. But editors of all reputable journals should join us in a campaign to eliminate the use of false publication dates.
EUGENE GARFIELD, Ph.D.
Institute for Scientific Information; Philadelphia, PA 19104
REFERENCES
1. back to text Cooper DS, Ridgeway EC. The medical-literature system: gold or gold-plated [Letter]? Annals of Internal Medicine 1983:98:562.2. back to text Garfield E. False publication dates and other rip offs. Current Contents, 1978; 20:5-8.