Local aspects and global outcomes of occupational health literature management

Background and Objectives: Public health practice requires evidence of effectiveness from relevant research, yet cost increases and competition for space are reducing subscriptions and print collections. This study investigated which journals are used in occupational health, how far back researchers need access and what other formats researchers are using. Methods: Using citations as indicators of usage, this study recorded format, journal title and publication year for every citation from substantial articles in four major occupational health journals 2008-2010. Each journal's primary subject category as identified in a bibliographic database was added. Two random sample sets were created: one only journal citations, the other of all recorded citations. Results: From the total of 52,0000 citations, 611 formed the journals-only sample, 1046 the overall sample. Two thirds of the citations came from journals identified as primarily outside public health, many of them clinical specialties but also engineering, psychology and construction and building technology. Many citations involved ten to twenty-year old materials. Conclusions: The wide variety of journals supporting occupational health indicates the need for a broad-based library or subscription service until open access (free without subscription) publishing becomes more prevalent. The age of citations indicates either that researchers in 2008-2010 had greater access to older journals than more current ones or that occupational health topics are so varied yet so specific that the best or most current research on a particular topic had often been published a decade earlier.