From:   Danny Jones <jones@UTHSCSA.EDU>

        This is a question I've heard before and I've never seen an answer
to it.  I don't think you can give a precise answer, and  I suspect the
answer is "it depends." One immediate question is:  Journals or serials?
But, I can suggest one approach.
        If you assume that the US National Library of Medicine collects all
the medical serials that are published (a fair assumption, I think,
although even THEY probably miss a few), then you could search their
serials database (SERLINE) and make a good estimate at the number of
medical serials being published.  (There are more assumptions built into
this approach, so you might want to talk to someone who searches NLM's
databases regularly for ways to refine it.)

Using this approach I did the search (see below) and get the following:

30081 medical serials now being published worldwide;
12263 medical serials being published in the US - about 41% of the titles!

        It is important to note that NLM defines medical serials broadly,
so you may want to look as the SERLINE unit record in the NLM Online
Services refine the search by subject.
_________________________________________________
NLM TIME 14:05:48 DATE 96:250 TCP00063 GM#060020E

WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE'S ELHILL SYSTEM.
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE MEDLINE (1993 - 96) FILE.
SS 1 /C?
USER:
file serline

PROG:
YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE SERLINE FILE.

SS 1 /C?
USER:
open (oc)

PROG:
SS (1) PSTG (30081)

SS 2 /C?
USER:
United States (cy)

PROG:
SS (2) PSTG (34783)

SS 3 /C?
USER:
1 and 2

PROG:
SS (3) PSTG (12263)
_______________________________________________________________
>
>My library director has asked me to find out two things:
>
>How many medical journals are being published in the US in the 90's
>and
>How many medical journals are being published worldwide in the 90's
>
>Do any of you have that information, or have any clues on where I could
>locate it?
>
>I appreciate any help you can give me!
>
>JoAnne Griffin
><jgriffin@OPAL.TUFTS.EDU>