Medical oncology in journals of internal medicine.

The coverage of medical oncology in internal medicine journals was evaluated by reviewing the contents of the 1974 and 1975 issues of three leading American internal medicine journals. The percentage of articles relevant to medical oncology compared favorably with figures for the other subspecialties of internal medicine. The subject matter of the medical oncology articles in the three journals was found to be complementary to the content spectrum of the subspecialty journal, Cancer. This distribution may be useful to the medical oncologist but may present a skewed view of recent developments in medical oncology to the nononcologist internist who relies largely on internal medicine journals for information regarding new trends in medical oncology. The implications of these findings are discussed, particularly with regard to the possibility that a similar situation exists for the other subspecialties of internal medicine.