Pharmaceutical Studies on “Dang-Gui” in Korean Journals

A crude drug “Dang-Gui”, belonging to the genus Angelica, has been used as a traditional herbal medicine in Asia. Various studies have investigated the chemical components and pharmacological activities of Dang-Gui worldwide. However, domestic research results published in Korean are undervalued in international academia due to language barriers. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the domestic research findings systematically for greater accessibility. This review focuses on the results published in four Korean pharmaceutical journals between 1970 and 2018, which detail the botanical, phytochemical, and pharmacological properties of three Angelica species (A. gigas, A. sinensis, and A. acutiloba) used as “Dang-Gui” in Korea, China, and Japan.

Trends of research articles in the Korean Journal of Medical Education by social network analysis / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: This aim of this study is to examine trends in medical education research in the Korean Journal of Medical Education (KJME) and suggest improvements for medical education research. METHODS: The main variables were keywords from research papers that were published in KJME. Abstracts of papers (n=499) that were published from 1991 through 2015 were analyzed by social network analysis (NetMiner 4.0) a common research method for trends in academic subjects. RESULTS: The most central keywords were "medical education," "clinical competence," "medical student," and "curriculum." After introduction into graduate medical school, newly appearing keywords were "professional behavior," "medical humanities," "communication," and "physician-patient relation." Based on these results, we generated a schematic of the network, in which the five groups before introduction to graduate medical school expanded to nine groups after introduction. CONCLUSION: Medical education research has been improving qualitatively and quantitatively, and research subjects have been expanded, subdivided, and specific. While KJME has encompassed medical education studies comprehensively, studies on medical students have risen in number. Thus, the studies that are published in KJME were consistent with the direction of journal and a new study on the changes in medical education is being conducted.

Comparison of Research Trends in Korean and International Family Medicine in Journals of Family Medicine / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: Research is important for the development of family medicine as a professional field in primary care. The aim of this study was to suggest directions for the development of family medicine research by analyzing research trends in original papers published in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine (KJFM) and international journals. METHODS: We investigated original research papers published in KJFM and 4 international journals from August 2009 to July 2010. Analysis was conducted according to research topics, authors, methods, participants, and data sources. RESULTS: 'Clinical research' was the most common research topic in both the KJFM (88.3%) and international journals (57.3%); however, international journals had more studies in other domains ('education and research,' 'health service,' and 'family medicine'). More authors other than family physicians participated in international journals than in the KJFM (58% and 3.3%, respectively). Most studies were 'cross-sectional' in KJFM (77.0%) and international journals (51.5%): however, the latter had more 'qualitative' studies, 'cohort' studies, and 'systematic reviews' than the former. The largest study population was 'visitors of health promotion center' in the KJFM and 'outpatients' in international journals. Most of the study sources were 'survey' and 'medical records' in both. CONCLUSION: There were limitations of diversity in the papers of the KJFM. Future investigation on papers of other than family medicine journals should be planned to assess research trends of family physicians.

Misinterpreting Odds Ratio in the Articles Published in Korean Journal of Family Medicine / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: In reporting results of case-control studies, odds ratios are useful methods of reporting findings. However, odds ratios are often misinterpreted in the literature and by general readers. METHODS: We searched all original articles which were published in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine from 1980 to May 2011 and identified those that report "odds ratios." Misinterpretation of odds ratios as relative risks has been identified. Estimated risk ratios were calculated when possible and compared with odds ratios. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-eight articles using odds ratios were identified. Among those, 122 articles were analyzed for the frequency of misinterpretation of odds ratios as relative risks. Twenty-two reports out of these 122 articles misinterpreted odds ratios as relative risks. The percentage of misinterpreting reports decreased over years. Seventy-seven reports were analyzed to compare the estimated risk ratios with odds ratios. In most of these articles, odds ratios were greater than estimated risk ratios, 60% of which had larger than 20% standardized differences. CONCLUSION: In reports published in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine, odds ratios are frequently used. They were misinterpreted in part of the reports, although decreasing trends over years were observed.

The Quality of Reporting of Cohort, Case-Control Studies in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement was developed to improve the reporting of observational studies. We aimed to evaluate the quality of reporting in cohort studies and case-control studies among observational studies published in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine. METHODS: We searched for cohort studies and case-control studies published as original articles in the Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine during the period January 1992 through December 2009. The main outcome measures were the number and proportion of cohort studies and case-control studies that reported each of 22 checklist items of STROBE. RESULTS: We identified a total of 84 articles, of which 46 articles were cohort studies and 38 were case-control studies. Concerning methods, study designs (10%), bias (13%), study size (0%), statistical methods (12-c and 12-e items, 0%; 12-d item, cohort study, 6%) have been poorly reported. Of results, participants (5-6%), descriptive data (14-b item, 5%), and funding (1%) among other information have been poorly reported. CONCLUSION: The degree of adherence the STROBE recommendations was relatively low in cohort studies and case-control studies published in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine. An effort to improve the reporting of observational studies by application and recommendation of the STROBE statement is required.

Research Trend of Nutrition through Analysis of Articles Published in 'Korean Journal of Community Nutrition' / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of this study was to examine the research trend of nutrition for the recent 12 years from 1996 to 2007 by analyzing 734 articles published in the Korean Journal of Community Nutrition. The majority of the articles (61.4%) were classified as survey types in terms of data collection methods. Most of the subjects used in the articles were adults (28.8%), and the subject whose research has been increased at the highest rate was "patients". The most frequent keywords in the title of articles were "nutrient intake" (231times), "food service" (92times), "dietary habits" (69times), and "obesity" (69times). The keywords that have appeared more frequently with the years were "osteoporosis" (450.0%), "menopause" (350.0%) and "dietary attitudes" (208.3%). As for research interests, "nutrient intake" was dominant in the early stage of research while "disease", "dietary habits", "dietary attitudes" and "nutrition education" have increased in recent years. Some of the most common methods of nutrition assessment were "dietary intake" (41.2%), "anthropometric" (34.0%) and "biochemical test" (14.7%). The most common methods of dietary intake were "24-hours recall" (28.6%) and "dietary habits" (23.3%). The results of this study showed some biases in data collection methods, gender of the subjects, and study areas. Moreover, inconsistent terminologies, questionnaire contents, and measures were used for the researches on dietary behaviors, dietary habits, dietary attitudes, which made it difficult to compare their results for each research. Therefore, standardized research methods and terminologies need to be developed regarding dietary practices.

The Trend and Prospect of Studies on the History of Western Medicine in Korea / 의사학

Studies on the history of Western medicine in Korea began to be actively conducted and published since the restart of the Korean Society for the History of Medicine in 1991, which had been originally inaugurated in 1947, and the publication of its official journal, the Korean Journal of Medical History in 1992. In 1970s and 1980s, even before the start of the Journal, articles on a history of Western medicine were published mainly written by physicians in medical journals. This paper aims to provide an overview of the publications on the history of Western medicine in Korea, comparing papers published in the Journal with those published in other journals. Authors of the papers in the Journal are those who majored in history of medicine or history science whose initial educational backgrounds were medicine or science, whereas authors of the papers in other journals majored in Western history, economic history, social history, religious history, or women's history. While a large portion of papers in the Journal deal with medicine in ancient Greek or in modern America with no paper on medieval medicine, the papers in other journals deal with more various periods including ancient, medieval and modern periods and with diverse areas including France, Britain, Germany, Europe etc. Recent trends in 2000s show an increase in the number of researchers who published the history of Western medicine in other journals, total number of their publications, and the topics that they dealt with in their papers. In contrast, however, the number of researchers published in the Journal, the number of the papers and its topics - all decreased in recent years. Only three papers on the history of diseases have been published in the Journal, while eleven published in other journals. In order to stimulate research on the history of Western medicine in Korea, concerted efforts are necessary including academic communication among various disciplines, formulation of a long term plan to enlarge the pool of researchers and readers of the history of Western medicine, and development of strategic educational programs for both graduates and undergraduates including students of medicine and of humanities in Korea.

The Trend and Prospect of Studies in the Modern History of Medicine in Korea / 의사학

The Korean Journal of Medical History published in 1992 provides spaces for publication to medical historians who have been growing increasingly since the 1990s, thereby stimulating studies in the modern history of medicine in Korea. Through research published in the Korean Journal of Medical History and other journals, the course through which medicine in Korea in the modern times has been formed and the content of medicine that composed that course are elucidated. This article concludes that the various research tend to posit the view that the modern history of medicine in Korea evolves through a process of accommodation with Western medicine rather than being a complete transplantation of Western medicine, and describes medicine as it is viewed by consumers rather than the operators of medicine. How government power or colonial power utilized medicine in order to stabilize their rule is also a common theme. Now, it is come time to interrogate the viewpoints and analytical methods of medical history studies. Given that medicine is one area that drives changes in Korea in contemporary times, the outcomes obtained through this field can be sufficiently utilized when studying other areas. For instance, agony over the modernity of missionary medicine being studied recently provides meaningful implications in understanding the modernity of Korea. However, the importance of substantiation should not be overlooked as theories not supported by thorough documentary evidence are weak.

Quality Assessment of Non-Randomized Studies in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: Since the Korean Journal of Family Medicine (KJFM) started publishing in 1980, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled studies (NRSs) consistently have increased in quality and quantity. Although there have been several studies on the quality assessment of RCTs in Korea, there has been no study on quality assessment of NRSs. Thus, this study evaluated NRS in the KJFM to assess the quantity and quality. METHODS: Upon extracting NRSs for assessing the intervention effects from all the articles published in the KJFM from 1980 to 2006, assessments were made on methodological index for non-randomized studies (MINORS). Also, the analysis were made upon the proportion of NRSs within original articles according to two categories (comparative study, noncomparative study). The mean scores by research methods and years, and total scores and mean scores of yearly research methods were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 34 trials on NRSs were selected. In 1980s, 0.65% of the total selected original articles, in 1990s, 1.54%, and in 2000s 5.11% were NRSs. According to the research designs, the mean scores of MINORS were before and after study 8.5, interrupted Time Series 9.7 (out of 16), controlled before and after 13.5, quasi randomized trial 12.6, and non randomized trial 13 (out of 24). Before and after design was the most frequently used (55.9%). CONCLUSION: Although NRSs consistently increased in quantity, the assessed mean scores were low and most articles used before and after design. Thus, there should be studied using appropriate research methods in the future.

Bibliometric Analysis of the Korean Journal of Parasitology: Measured from SCI, PubMed, Scopus, and Synapse Databases

The Korean Journal of Parasitology (KJP) is the official journal of the Korean Society for Parasitology which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2009. To assess the contributions and achievements of the KJP, bibliometric analysis was conducted based on the citation data retrieved from 4 major databases; SCI, PubMed, Synapse, and Scopus. It was found that the KJP articles were constantly cited by the articles published in major international journals represented in these databases. More than 60% of 1,370 articles published in the KJP from 1963 to June 2009 were cited at least once by SCI articles. The overall average times cited by SCI articles are 2.6. The rate is almost 3 times higher for the articles published in the last 10 years compared to 1.0 for the articles of the 1960s. The SCI journal impact factor for 2008 is calculated as 0.871. It is increasing and it is expected to increase further with the introduction of the KJP in the database in 2008. The more realistic h-indixes were measured from the study data set covering all the citations to the KJP; 17 for SCI, 6 for PubMed, 19 for Synapse, and 17 for Scopus. Synapse extensively picked up the citations to the earlier papers not retrievable from the other 3 databases. It identified many papers published in the 1960s and in the 1980s which have been cited heavily, proving the central role of the KJP in the dissemination of the important research findings over the last 5 decades.

An analysis of articles published in Korean Journal of Gynecologic Oncology and Colposcopy / 부인종양

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the distribution of research design, type, field and classification for the articles published in Korean Journal of Gynecologic Oncology and Colposcopy during recent 15 years. METHODS: A total of 473 papers published in Korean Journal of Gynecologic Oncology and Colposcopy from 1990 to 2004 were reviewed for retrospective descriptive analysis. First, all papers were analyzed according to the design, type, field of study. Then they were classified again depending on specific topics under the criteria used in science citation index journal, "Gynecologic Oncology". Articles presented at symposia were excluded from this analysis. RESULTS: We observed that distribution in study design showed the inclination toward case series study (71.7%) and case report (26.8%). To the contrary, the numbers of cohort study and randomized controlled trial were five and one, respectively. The distributions of articles were 321 in survey, 6 in experiment, 7 in clinical trial. There were 12 articles belonging to overview of secondary research. Secondary classification based on study field revealed 108 articles in causation, 82 in diagnosis, 73 in therapy as descending order. There were 80 articles of molecular biology including immunology and tumor suppressor genes, 66 articles of cervical cancer, and 36 articles of epithelical ovarian cancer. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the reports on Korean Journal of Gynecologic Oncology and Colposcopy are mainly converged to case series studies in the design of study and survey in the type of study.

Taehan Kan Hakhoe Chi (The Korean Journal of Hepatology) and Index Medicus (Medline/PubMed) / 대한간학회지

It is our great pleasure to announce that the Taehan Kan Hakhoe Chi (The Korean Journal of Hepatology) was approved for listing, from 2002, in the Index Medicus, Medline/PubMed of the National Library of Medicine, NIH of USA. Herein, I review the searching tools employing a Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) such as liver disease and liver neoplasm or an author index for this Journal in the PubMed at a website. Of course, The Korean Journal of Hepatology should be continually striving to be upgraded. Dream comes true.

Indexing the Korean Journal of Radiology by the Institute for Scientific Information for SCI-Expanded and by the National Library of Medicine for Index Medicus/MEDLINE / 신경정신의학

A journal indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information for SCI-expanded and by the National Library of Medicine for Index Medicus/MEDLINE is important to be recognized internationally. The Korean Journal of Radiology has been indexed in the database of the SCI-expanded since 2001 and Medicus/MEDLINE since 2000. The criteria for journal evaluation and selection by the National Library of Medicine include quality of editorial work, production quality, and quality of content. Most of the candidate journals contain reasonably good quality in editorial work and production. Thus, we believe that the quality of content is the most important criteria for the journal selection. To maintain a good quality of content, selection of the manuscript containing originality and scientific merits is imperative in review process. Highly selected, small number of articles per issue would be a wise editorial policy for a journal to be indexed by the well-known database.

Post-hoc Survey for Power of 119 Negative Results in Korean Journal of Anesthesiology / 대한마취과학회지

BACKGROUND: Statistical type II error has seemed to be ignored commonly by medical researchers. To control and present a power value could be helpful to reduce this type of error and to improve a quality of scientific decision making. We performed the post-hoc survey of the power of the negative results in Korean Journal of Anesthesiology (KJA). METHODS: One Hundred nineteen articles with negative results published in KJA during a year of 1997 were selected. We collected the numbers of the sample size and calculated the power of the given negative result only when applicable. And each author's attitude to negative results was taken by arbitrary criteria. RESULTS: Median sample size of these negative results was 16 12 (median interquartile range). We can calculate the power only in 43 articles of 119 negative results. Median power is 18.0% (interquartile range 26.0). In thirty six articles (83.8% of 43) the powers are proved to be under 80.0%. And 22 articles (51.2% of 43) have the powers even under 20.0%. We couldn't find any author who included either power or effect size in the article, and there was only one article in which its authors considered their inadequate number of sample size. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that authors of KJA tend to ignore statistical type II error. In 119 negative results published in KJA during 1997, the calculated powers were very low and were not reported in the text.

An Evaluation of the Statistical Techniques used in the 1995-1996 editions of the Korean Journal of Clinical Pathology / 대한임상병리학회지

BACKGROUND: Quantitative experiment and analysis of the result with statistical techniques are an essential part of the medical article for acquiring objective confidence. But errors on application, calculation, and interpretation of statistics and insufficient explanation of the used statistical technique deprive the reader of reliance on the article. We identified the statistical errors that were commonly encountered and which researchers and readers should recognize in the Korean Journal of Clinical Pathology (KJCP) in order to improve the quality of the statistics in the article. METHODS: We identified the frequency of the statistical errors from the 193 articles in the 1995 - 1996 editions of the KJCP. There were seven kinds of statistical errors that were most frequently observed. Each different kind of error in the same article were counted separately, but two or more of the same kind of error in an article were counted as one. RESULTS: Seventy-five statistical errors were identified. Seven kind of the most common errors and the observed numbers of the every kind of error were as follow : 1. Using P value without the statistical name (12), 2. Performing t test instead of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test in comparing the means of three or more groups (11), 3. Omitting the F test on the unpaired t test in small different sized samples (10), 4. Mentioning the statistical technique without using it (9), 5. Mentioning the predictive value without prevalence (7), 6. Not performing multiple comparison after the significant ANOVA test (5), 7. Not using the P value with the correlation coefficient (r) (5). CONCLUSIONS: There were 75 statistical errors in the 1995-1996 editions of the KJCP. Not mentioning the name of the statistical technique used was the most frequently observed error. The authors' careful application of the basic statistics would be the real solution of the problem.

Accuracy and Frequency of Citation of References from the Korean Journal of Anesthesiology - From the first application of the present contribution rules (1996) to 1998 - / 대한마취과학회지

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to investigate the frequency of and errors in citation of references in articles from the Korean Journal of Anesthesiology (KJA) from the first application of the present contribution rules (1996) to 1998 and to suggest a clue to improve the quality of our journal. METHODS: All references cited from KJA were reviewed using a computerized searching system. If any differences are found during the review, we compare it with the original article. Errors on the contribution rules were examined according to the instructions for the authors revised in 1995. RESULTS: Overall 74% of the articles had more than one reference cited from KJA. The average number of the references cited from KJA per article was 1.73. In such references, citation errors were found in 48% of articles published in 1996, 44% in 1997, and 43% in 1998. The percentages of general errors and errors involving the contribution rules were 62% and 38%, respectively. Common general errors were found in titles (164 cases), pages (102 cases), and name (60 cases). Those involving the contribution rules found in the notation of name (120 cases), pages (54 cases), and inadequate notation of the number of issue (49 cases). CONCLUSIONS: Despite numerous efforts, the incidence of citation errors was still high when the articles of KJA were cited as references. Improvement in the quality of our journal will be possible only by rigid adherence to contribution rules, thorough review of the articles, and a lucid explanation of contribution rules.

Academic Activities of the Korean Physiological Society: The First 50 Years (1945-1995) / 의사학

In this paper, authors investigated the academic activities of the Korean Physiological Society for the first 50 years from its foundation in 1945 to the year 1995. Authors divided the first 50 years of the Korean Physiological Society into the 4 developmental stages such as 1) Stage of Foundation (1945-1956), 2) Stage of Reconstruction (1957-1966), 3) Stage of Adjustment (1967-1981) and 4) Stage of Promotion (1982-1995), relating to its academic activities. Each stage had its own affairs and characteristics as follows. 1) The Stage of Foundation : Foundation of the Society; Participation of the members in the joint annual academic meeting held by the Korean Medical Association 2) The Stage of Reconstruction : Having the independent annual academic meeting; Rapid increase of papers read in the meeting; Affiliation of the Society with the International Union of Physiological Sciences(IUPS) 3) The Stage of Adjustment : Foundation of the Korean Journal of Physiology 4) The Stage of Promotion : Having the spring academic meeting; Further increase of papers(oral and poster) presented in the meeting; Increase of papers in the Journal; Transformation of the Journal into the English edition; Active participation of the members in the international academic activities; Establishment of the subspecial society such as the Korean Society for Smooth Muscle Research and the Ion-channel Group

Academic Activities of the Korean Physiological Society: The First 50 Years (1945-1995) / 의사학

In this paper, authors investigated the academic activities of the Korean Physiological Society for the first 50 years from its foundation in 1945 to the year 1995. Authors divided the first 50 years of the Korean Physiological Society into the 4 developmental stages such as 1) Stage of Foundation (1945-1956), 2) Stage of Reconstruction (1957-1966), 3) Stage of Adjustment (1967-1981) and 4) Stage of Promotion (1982-1995), relating to its academic activities. Each stage had its own affairs and characteristics as follows. 1) The Stage of Foundation : Foundation of the Society; Participation of the members in the joint annual academic meeting held by the Korean Medical Association 2) The Stage of Reconstruction : Having the independent annual academic meeting; Rapid increase of papers read in the meeting; Affiliation of the Society with the International Union of Physiological Sciences(IUPS) 3) The Stage of Adjustment : Foundation of the Korean Journal of Physiology 4) The Stage of Promotion : Having the spring academic meeting; Further increase of papers(oral and poster) presented in the meeting; Increase of papers in the Journal; Transformation of the Journal into the English edition; Active participation of the members in the international academic activities; Establishment of the subspecial society such as the Korean Society for Smooth Muscle Research and the Ion-channel Group

Statistical Errors in Papers in the two Korean Dermatology Journals

BACKGROUND: Statistical errors have been noted in a large percentage of articles appearing in medical journals. Their incidence in the Annals of Dermatology and the Korean Journal of Dermatology, however, has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of statistical methods in the Annals of Dermatology and the Korean Journal of Dermatology. METHOD: Original papers using the t test in the Annals of Dermatology(AD) and in the Korean Journal of Dermatology(KJD) from January 1990 to July 1994 were analyzed for correctness of statistical methods. RESULTS: Of the 376 original papers in the period considered, 78(20.7%) presented t tests and 43(55.1%) of these also contained some errors. Of the 9 papers from the Annals of Dermatology, 4(44.4%) included at least one error. Of the 69 papers from the Korean Journal of Dermatology, 39(56.5%) included at least one error. CONCLUSION: Misuse of statistical methodology may not be uncommon in the two Korean Dermatology journals, and it would be prudent to give more attention to statistical methodology.

Statitical Techniques Reported in Korean Dermatology Journals During 1990-1994

BACKGROUND: Effective evaluation of an article's scientific merit requires familiarity with the methodology described, especially when quantitative techniques, such as statistical procedures, are invoked to clarify research findings or to summarize data. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe the frequency with which various statistical concepts were reported in journals important to dermatology. From these results, dermatologists can identify the major statistical skills needed to critically evaluate their literature. METHODS: All 376 original articles of the Korean Journal of Dermatology(KJD) and the Annals of Dermatology(KAD) during 1990-1994 were chosen for review. Each article was re-viewed to determine the statistical content. RESULTS: The two most commonly used statistical techniques in the two journals were mean and standard deviation. The t-test was the next most frequently used statistical technique in the reviewed journals, followed by non-parametric, chi-square test, orphan p, ANOVA, and correlation/regression. CONCLUSION: These results indicate the need for wider education about the use of descriptive and basic comparative statistics. It is impossible to evaluate the dermatological literature critically without these skills.