Vectors, Bites, and Venoms: Articles on Insects and Other Arthropods of Medical Importance. Which Journals Published the Most and on Which Insects, 2007–2011?

Abstract

With a goal of delineating a small, core collection of journals to cover growing domestic and worldwide interest, this study reports four findings about articles related to medical entomology that appeared from 2007–2011. First, in the study of insects as disease vectors, journals of tropical medicine and biology actually publish almost as many papers as journals of medical entomology and vector biology, and among type-of-insect journals, those dealing with mosquitoes, ticks, and mites are most prominent. Second, in the literature of insect bites, journals of general entomology that intermittently feature recurring papers on medical entomology and type-of-insect titles that emphasize mosquitoes are the most important. Third, in the study of insect venoms, 70 percent of papers come from the journals of toxicology and related disciplines such as protein biochemistry. Fourth, while there were dozens of different noxious arthropods mentioned one to four times in the medical literature during our time span, mosquitoes were by far the most discussed with almost 1,000 articles, followed by, in decreasing rank order: wasps, bees, and ants; spiders and scorpions; flies and midges; cockroaches; lice; fleas; ticks and mites; true bugs; and centipedes. Based on the combined findings of all four sections, recommendations are made for a compact core of nine subscription-based journals that, along with dozens of Open Access and widely subscribed scientific and clinical titles already in many collections, will well serve academic and healthcare institutions that wish to begin supporting, in a reasonably economical manner, heightened awareness of major findings on insects and other arthropods that impact human health, and to potentially join in research efforts to control or eradicate them.