Rehabilitation research from a non-English speaking country published in peer-reviewed English journals--the Japanese experience.

Abstract

To study the status of contribution by non-English speaking countries to international rehabilitation literature taking Japan as an example, and to suggest recommendations to overcome the language barrier. Descriptive study using a systematic MEDLINE search with outcome measures of annual numbers and proportions of articles by Japanese physiatrists published in peer-reviewed English rehabilitation journals, and of categories and types of studies. A database containing 292 relevant articles were used for analysis. The publications have steadily increased annually both in absolute number and in proportion. The number was the largest for Arch Phys Med Rehabil (16.8%), followed by Am J Phys Med Rehabil (12.3%), Prosthet Orthot Int (8.6%), Disabil Rehabil (5.1 %) and so on. The percentage by category was the highest for stroke (26.0%), followed by spinal cord injury (11.6%), neurophysiology (11.6%) and amputation (6.2%), 67.8% of the articles were related to evaluation, 6.5% to outcome studies and 25.7% to therapy. The majority were descriptive studies (45.5%), followed by case control studies (13.0%), before-and-after trials (12.3%), case reports (7.2%) and others. The contribution from Japan to international rehabilitation literature is increasing. Measures were suggested to facilitate more scientific contribution by non-English speaking researchers.