Once again we provide feedback about the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine articles of greatest interest to our readers during the previous calendar year. Figure 1 illustrates both the number of total access events and full-text HTML and PDFs throughout 2009; a new issue is published bimonthly (this is also noted in the figure). With an average of almost 197,000 monthly and a total of 2.3 million yearly content usage requests, 2009 proved to be the busiest year for online usage activity in JABFM's history. Content activity was up 15% in 2009 when compared with content usage requests during 2008.1 Full-text HTML articles were the most accessed during 2009, with an average of 79,700 monthly requests, followed by abstracts with 48,300 average monthly requests and then PDF articles, with 46,000 average monthly requests. We thank you, our reading community, for your continued support of the JABFM.
Table 1 shows the top 20 most frequently read articles in the JABFM for January 2009 through December 2009. Specific articles continue to be relevant to readers; 75% of the articles appeared on the 2008 top 20 list as well.1 The majority of the articles were published in 2006 or earlier; this shows that older articles maintain their value with JABFM readers. Three of the newest articles included on the list discuss the overtreatment of chronic back pain,8 recurrent herpes simplex type 2 virus (Mollaret meningitis),10 and a Warthin tumor that presented as a highly suspicious mass.11 Other newcomers include measuring performance in primary care14 and the medical home,19 which reflects the current interest in these topics.
Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine online content usage by month, 2009. (Data from HighWire Press. Year-to-date usage summary for the JABFM. Produced 8 Feb 2010. Accessed 12 March 2010).
The 20 Most Frequently Read* Articles in the JABFM during January 2009 through December 2009†
Notes
Conflict of interest: The authors are editors and staff of the JABFM.
