CURRENCY OF INFORMATION FOUND IN SILVERPLATTER'S MEDLINE CDROM

To assess the currency of descriptions found in SilverPlatter's Medline CDROM edition precisely, all the descriptions from 1993 were studied. The objectives were not only to quantify the mean currency of the articles, but also to establish whether the priority level, the periodicity and the subset had any influence on currency. As a secondary result, a database summarises characteristics and currency values for each serial The results show that the currency of a description can vary tremendously. Priority level, periodicity and prior database were found to have a low but highly significant influence on currency (p < 0.0001). The mean currency was 6.92 months, when Priority 1 journal articles had a mean currency of 4.53 months and appeared on CDROM two to three months earlier than other priority‐assigned journal articles. 40.28% of Priority 1 journals appeared on CDROM within three months of publication. The 10 most important serials (regarding ISI's impact factor for general medicine) are shown as examples of the database for secondary results.