Abstract
Objectives: This study was carried out to analyze and understand the trends of research papers published In the Journal of Oriental Medical Surgery？phthalmology & Otolaryngology Society(JOMSOOS). Methods: We studied the 308 research papers that had been published in JOMSOOS from 1988 Vol. 1. No. 1. to 2002 Vol. 15. No. 2. Our study was developed through the four stages in order to analyze the papers; 1) we analyzed all the papers overall to classify them into three categories; original article. review article and case report. 2) we classified the original articles in terms of methodology. 3) we also analyzed the case reports according to the sort of disease each paper dealt with. 4) we had another statistical approach to each paper to figure out the distribution of diagnoses in detail. Results: We have got the following outcomes from our analysis of the papers in terms of the four stages. 1. Overall Analysis. 1) Classification of 308 research papers between 1988 and 2002: 137 original articles(44.48$\%$), 111 review articles(36.04$\%$), 56 case reports(18.18$\%$). 2) Used language: Korean(99.03$\%$). English(0.97$\%$). 3) The Number of Authors: 2 persons(42.86$\%$). 3 persons(29.87$\%$), 1 person(14.61$\%$). 2. Original Article Analysis 1) Classification of 137 original articles in terms of methodology: 90 experimental studies(65.69$\%$)46 descriptive studies(33.58$\%$), 1 analytic study(0.73$\%$). 2) Classification of the original articles according to the use of statistical methods: No statistical methods(36.42$\%$), Descriptive methods only(1.99$\%$), Not defined(23.18$\%$), t-test(24.50$\%$), ANOVA(3.97$\%$), Multiple comparison(2.65$\%$), Non-parametric test(2.65$\%$), Other methods(1.32$\%$). 3) Classification of 46 descriptive articles in terms of diseases: otorhinolaryngology(43.48$\%$), dermatology(23.91$\%$), ophthalmology(13.04$\%$), facial palsy(13.04$\%$). 4) Classification of descriptive articles in terms of the number of patients: the highest was 'more than 26 but less than 50 persons'(19 articles - 41.30$\%$). 5) Classification of descriptive articles in terms of the period for patients observation: the highest was the time 'more than 9 but less than 12 months(34.78$\%$)' Out of the 34.78$\%$, the number of articles with the patients observed for more than 12 months was 13(28.26$\%$). 3. Case Report Analysis 1) Classification of 56 case reports in terms of the sort of disease: dermatology(44.64$\%$), ophthalmology(19.64$\%$), otorhinolaryngology(14.29$\%$), facial palsy(8.93$\%$). 2) Classification in terms of the number of patients: 1 person(50$\%$), 3 persons(16.07$\%$), 2 persons(14.29$\%$). 4. Diagnosis Distribution of Each Disease. 1) Studies regarding ophthalmology : the percentage of 'strabismus' cases was the highest(33.33$\%$). 2) Studies regarding otorhinolaryngology : nasal inflammation(34.48$\%$), tinnitus(20.69$\%$). 3) Studies regarding dermatology: the percentage of 'allergic skin disease' was the highest(33.33$\%$). Conclusions: We analyzed the trends of research papers that have been published in JOMSOOS in detail. We came to understand the trends of the research through this study. However, we acknowledge that we only adopted the quantitative method out of various possible analysis methods. For further studies, we strongly urge to adopt the qualitative methods as well.