Benchmarking Dermatopathology
What does analysis of the last five years of the literature on dermatopathology tell us about the priorities of this field and the major contributors to it?
The term dermato-pathologia was coined in 1972 by the doctor Henry Seguin Jackson, to describe “the pathology and proximate cause of diseases of the true skin”. Today, dermatopathology is a large and varied field, encompassing gross, microscopic and molecular study of the largest human organ. The number of disorders affecting the skin reach into the thousands, requiring a broad knowledge base, and overlap with other disciplines, such as oncology and immunology. In this month’s benchmarking exercise, we take a closer look at this diverse specialty…
To provide insight into the past research priorities and predictions for the future of the field, a series of metrics were applied to the last five years of the published literature. We asked:
What are the major topics for the field?
Which publications have the greatest impact?
How is the knowledge available online?
Who are the most prolific authors?
Articles in MEDLINE are indexed by Medical Subject headings (MeSH) topics, that describe the articles’ main topics. Here are the top five MeSH terms over the last five years of human dermatopathology literature.
PubMed was searched for “Dermatopathology” with results limited to the last five years, in humans (for a clinical focus). The data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel 2013.
I have an extensive academic background in the life sciences, having studied forensic biology and human medical genetics in my time at Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities. My research, data presentation and bioinformatics skills plus my ‘wet lab’ experience have been a superb grounding for my role as an Associate Editor at Texere Publishing. The job allows me to utilize my hard-learned academic skills and experience in my current position within an exciting and contemporary publishing company.
