Research or re-search? Why we should read old and foreign literature.

The recent availability of MEDLINE has made literature searches easier but, as a result, historic papers and those from foreign language journals may be overlooked. One hundred papers were reviewed and it was found that there was a 5% incidence of failure to acknowledge papers published in either pre-second world war literature or papers published in French. It is important to read historic and foreign language literature in order that the wheel is not reinvented.