[French medical periodicals in the international scene?]

Abstract

The future of internationally-oriented French-language medical journals depends on two objectives: securing the vast audience of potential English-speaking readers (ten times as great as the number of French readers) without whom there can be no international impact; and enlarging the number of French-speaking readers. The requirements of these two groups of readers are the same for selection and publication of original articles. For the convenience of English-speaking readers, a special summary in English should be provided. State assistance favoring the dissemination of French articles in foreign countries would be useful and seems more likely now that a Ministry of French-Speaking Affairs has been created after summit meetings in Paris and Quebec in 1986 and 1987 to promote the use of the French language. Each year French researchers and clinicians publish more and more articles in English-language scientific and medical journals. This practice deprives our French-language journals of an increasing number of original works. If nothing is done, it will develop even more, leading to the appearance in France, as in other European countries, of journals written entirely in English. The defense of French-language medical publications is not as pointless as the director of Current Contents has suggested; however, a number of French journals need to adapt rapidly to a situation that has changed more in the past 40 years than in the two preceding centuries.