Research on health and human rights is increasing in Japan, but this trend has never been studied. We thus reviewed health and human rights articles in the Japanese biomedical journal database to reveal the research trend between 1983 and 2002. We found that the number of health and human rights articles in Japan increased substantially from 1994. The range of keywords associated with human rights issues also increased as the number of articles increased. During the period 1983 to 1987, articles on mental health related issues were most common. Concern shifted to privacy between 1988 and 1992, and then to right to die between 1993 and 1997. In the last 5-year period studied (1998-2002), patient advocacy became the most frequently associated keyword followed by privacy, informed consent, freedom, confidentiality, and medical ethics. This trend is different from that of the MEDLINE database in the global setting. In conclusion, this study suggests that a literature survey on health and human rights articles drawn from a national database reflects the culture of the country's medical community.