Whimsical titles are deeply unhelpful

BMJ 1995;311:879 (30 September)

Letters

Whimsical titles are deeply unhelpful

EDITOR,--The advantages of electronic biomedical publishingare many: savings in terms of printing, paper, postage, libraryspace, and time taken to reach readers and an ever decreasingrequirement for libraries to be reliable and a consequent increasein the control that users have in obtaining information. Itwill eventually be possible to obtain the full text of journals,but in the first instance this will involve downloading a listof contents and structured abstracts.¹

Many published papers have vague or misleading titles--for example,"Trouble in the potting shed"² and "Airs, waters, places."³These editorials relate to infection with Legionella longbeachaeand the adverse effects of air conditioning, respectively. Theirtitles are short and catchy and may be enjoyed during a leisurelybrowse through a journal. When they are scanned for example,during the preparation for examination, however, they are ahindrance. A selective approach to reading a journal is facilitated. . . [Full text of this article]