Web-accessible medical literature database use of Japanese healthcare professionals;
analysis based on log information of "Ichushi- Web"
Mami Matsuda, Toshinori Kurosawa, Minoru Ikusaki, Atsutake Nozoe
NPO Japan Medical Abstracts Society, Tokyo

Objective

Usage - on a sectoral basis“Ichushi-Web” is domestic medical literature database service provided
by NPO Japan Medical Abstracts Society, which is most frequently
used in Japan.
・Coverage: medicine and other allied health disciplines from 2,700
domestic journals
・About 6.7 million bibliographic data
・Provided to: about 2,000 institutions - research and educational
institutions, hospitals, for-profit companies such as pharmaceuticalcompanies, public libraries, etc.

Links to Electronic Journals

Daily and yearly distribution of login were examined on users’
sector basis:
A ; research and educational institutions
B ; hospitals
C ; for-profit companies such as pharmaceutical company
D ; others

Links to OPAC or Link Resolver

About 1.9 million citations in “Ichushi-Web” are linked toelectronic full-text or bibliographic data in external sites.
Nearly 1.2 million citations out of the total records are linked to
the full-text article.
We gathered data on users’ clicking on the icons to view electronic
full-text, and analyzed the obtained information to find whattypes of articles were often accessed.

● The cumultative number of links to Electronic Journals– every year

● Daily distribution of login

Each institutional user can customize the interface for theresult of “Ichushi-Web” search, by setting optional links for
OPAC or Link Resolver.
The information regarding optional settings and clicking on theicons was gathered and analyzed.

●Number of institutions setting links to OPAC or Link Risolver
400Institutional clients
setting links to OPACor Link Resolver has
been increasing in
number year after year.

350
300

The purpose of this study is to analyze log information of "IchushiWeb" users, and thus review the current status of database use, links
to electronic journals, and links to OPAC or Link Risolver.

1,400,000
250

1,200,000

25000
20000
A

10000

400,000

C

200,000

Results

02006

5000

2007

2008

(Mar.2009)00

・Daily and yearly distribution of login, and the number of click-on
the links to electronic journals and to OPAC or Link Resolver wereanalyzed.
・The information regarding optional settings such as linkage to OPAC
or Link Resolver, which are customized by each users' organization
was also obtained and examined.

600,000

BD

The access information was extracted from log files stored on the"Ichushi- Web" server.

Ser vic e
Pr ovider■ MedicalFinder Igaku-Shoin Ltd., JapanJST(Japan Science and Technology Agency)■ J-STAGENII(National Institute of Informatics), Japan■ CiNii■ Medical Online Meteo.Inc, Japan
Sunmedia Co.,Ltd., Japan■ Pier Online
CrossRef.org■ CrossRef

800,000

15000

Methods

12345678910 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23( Nov.2008)● Number of clicking on links to Electronic Journals - monthly

The number of daily login from (A) reached its peak at 4:00 p.m.,
distribution of which was characterized by a nearly bell-shaped
curve with a remarkable drop at 12:00 p.m.
Whereas, those of (B),(C),and (D) varied less greatly during thedaytime.

othersLinkResolver

200

1,000,000

OPAC
150
100
500
2006.072007.072008.07

・Approximately 20 % out of the total institutional customers
have set links to OPAC or Link Resolver. The rate in medicalschool libraries was much higher, nearly 70 ％.

●Number of clicking on links to OPAC or Link Risolver- monthly

250000250000200000

MedicalFinder
J-STAGE

150000200000

CiNii
Medical Online

100000othersLinkResolver
OPAC

150000Pier Online
CrossRef

50000

0100000

50000

2008.01 2008.02 2008.03 2008.04 2008.05 2008.06 2008.07 2008.08 2008.09 2008.10 2008.11 2008.12● Yearly distribution of login

Usage of Ichushi-Web● Daily number of login

02008.01

The average monthly number of users’ clicking on the links toelectronic journals was about 170,000.
(January through December 2008)

30000025000016000

200000A

14000

B

150000

12000
10000

weekdays
weekends

8000
6000
4000

D

200,000

Conference Proceedings

150,000

Review Article
Others100,000

050,000

2005

2006

2007

2008

0
CrossRef

Utilization of “Ichushi-Web” service has been growing year byyear.
The average daily number of login during the weekdays inOctober 2008 was nearly 14,000.

2008.05

2008.06

2008.072008.08

2008.09

2008.10

2008.112008.12Conclusions
Original Article

2008.01 2008.02 2008.03 2008.04 2008.05 2008.06 2008.07 2008.08 2008.09 2008.10 2008.11 2008.12

2004

2008.04

250,000

02000

350,000
300,000

50000

2008.03● Number of clicking on links to Electronic Journals
by type of article and Service Provider

C100000

2008.02

Statistics showed that the average monthly number ofclicking the links to OPAC or Link Resolver was about
160,000. (January through December 2008)

The data of login from (A) showed a distinct bimodal
distribution with peaks in May/June, and October.
As for the other three sectors, namely, (B),(C),and (D), muchless seasonal fluctuation was seen.

PierOnline

MedicalOnline

CiNii

J-STAGE

MedicalFinder

Seen by provider and article type, “Review Article” containedin “Medical Online” has been accessed more often than any
other type of literature.
--- “Review Article” includes introductory or general articles
describing particular themes.

・As many as 14,000 people are estimated to make active use “IchushiWeb” each day.
・The seasonal and daily fluctuation with significant peaks were seen
in “Ichushi-Web” utilization by colleges or research institutes.
・The analysis of the log information about users’ clicking on the links
to access electronic articles showed that the users more often viewed“Review Articles”- including introductory articles in commercialjournals.

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