One of the criteria established by the Federative International Committee for Anatomical Terminology is the attempt to avoid redundancy in terminology and although Ibero-Latin American symposiums of terminology have been carried out to those ends, in practice the unification of terminology criteria has not been satisfactorily achieved. This can readily be observed in the existing literature, books and scientific articles related to this particular area. A bibliographic review aimed at evaluating whether there are discrepancies between the anatomical terminology and anatomic bibliography regarding use of the term “deltoid tubercle” (A02.4.01.006) associated to the scapular spine was prepared. Fifty-three anatomy texts were reviewed, summary sheets, based on books, with wording and/or pictures, describing the anatomy of the scapula and the clavicle were created. Subsequently, the classification criteria was determined and checklists with the purpose of tabulating the bibliographic descriptions were prepared. From the anatomical texts reviewed and studied: 15 % mention in the description the “deltoid tubercle” associated to the scapula, whereas 28 % associates the “deltoid tubercle” to the clavicle. From this we can conclude that in the bibliography this term is associated to both bones, in disagreement with the International anatomical terminology. Given the discrepancies between the terminology and the anatomical bibliography, the revision of the concept “deltoid tubercle” associated to the spine of the scapula is proposed. This paper is part of the first stage of a more accurate search of a more adequate term for the place where the deltoid muscle inserts in the clavicle.

KEY WORDS: Clavicle; Scapula; Deltoid Tubercle; Anatomical terminology.