ME-NET Library: Literature

Literature: biography and a computer analysis of the number of papers. Figure 1. Linear fits to the monthly number of papers published in the past five years. Figure 2. Absolute number of papers published in the past five years. Figure 3. Relative number of papers published compared to five years ago.

Data.

Annual Lists.

1938-1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003
2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008

Capita Selecta.

Past week [Raw data]

Past year

Other Resources.

Medline [Raw data; long]

Medrefs [Long]

ME Research U.K.

Completeness of data: > 95% of all CFS/ME/FM papers are present in the data sample. (In)completeness is due to:

Comission: data not present in database.
Databases: ISI/WOS/SCI (up to 2003) and NCBI PubMed (2004 onwards).

Omission: data omitted due to specification.
Boolean specification: ((chronic fatigue) OR (myalgic encephalomyelitis)) OR fibromyalgia.

Coverage ratio: data selection.
Selection criteria: authors' intention must be to cover CFS/ME/FM and related topics (the red data below) - even if other authors (patients) disagree. Therefore, the coverage ratio is 100%.

Correction: data addition.
Addition criteria: data supplied by other sources and specifications than mentioned above that also meet the selection criteria, might be added to the data sample.

Install the corresponding sidebar tab.

Figure.

Computations.

Input data (plain text)

Output data (plain text)

Output data (binary text)

Programme (plain text)

Figure 1: Papers (number/day) published in the past month.
[The data are present in Columns 2 and 3-5 of the computer output files]

Figure 2: Papers (number/5year) published in the past 5 years.
[The data are present in Columns 2 and 6-8 of the computer output files]

Figure 3: Progress (%/5year) in the past 5 years.
[The data are present in Columns 2 and 9-11 of the computer output files]

Colour codes.

All papers (CFS, ME, FM, EBV, MCS, GWS, mycoplasma, functional syndromes): red, squares & dashed lines.
All CFS and ME papers: green, triangles & solid lines.
All FM papers: blue, asterisks & dash-dotted lines.

Remarks.

Figure 1 displays the monthy numbers for the past 5 years. This figure is the input to Figures 2 and 3.

The scientific knowledge corresponds to a differential count for the number of papers in a specific period. The period has been set to 5 years.
Figures 2 (absolute number/5 years) and 3 (relative number/5 years) illustrate that the knowledge of CFS is decreasing since the second semester of 2004 and that for FM since the first semester of 2006.

The number of scientists working in this field is a logarithmic function of the number of publications. Therefore, Figure 2 suggest that the number of CFS scientists is decreasing since 2001.