Mapping the literature of dental hygiene.

Despite the long history of the dental hygiene profession, little research has been conducted on the characteristics of its literature. In this study, the bibliometric method was used to identify the core journals in the discipline and the extent of indexing of these journals. The study was a part of the Medical Library Association (MLA) Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project to map the allied health literature. Five journals were found to provide one-third of all references studied. Forty-two journals yielded an additional one-third of the references. MEDLINE had the best indexing coverage with 87% of the journals receiving indexing for at least one-half of the articles included. Limited coverage was provided by EMBASE/Excerpta Medica (11%) and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (9%). The findings identified titles that should be added by indexing services as well as those that should have more complete coverage.