Searching Health Communication Research

This article discusses common pitfalls encountered when Japanese users try to search for health communication studies. After briefly illustrating the development of the communication discipline in Japan, it argues that these historical factors often hinder effective literature searches on the subject of health communication in the Japanese language. The article then gives several practical tips for accurate literature search by discussing the difference between “communication” and “communications” and by providing a list of valid and invalid search terms. It also presents a list of journal titles where health communication studies are extensively published. Finally, the article concludes that the lack of a comprehensive database for the health communication literature in the Japanese language is a major obstacle to progress in the field in Japan and calls for bibliographic solutions to the current situation.