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How international are psychiatry journals?

2003; Elsevier BV; Volume: 361; Issue: 9374 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0140-6736(03)13666-5

1474-547X

Lisa A. Catapano, David Castle,

Schizophrenia research and treatment

Shekhar Saxena and colleagues have documented the under-representation of developing countries on the editorial and advisory boards of ten leading psychiatry journals.1Saxena S Levav I Maulik P Saraceno B How international are the editorial boards of leading psychiatric journals?.Lancet. 2003; 361: 609Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (59) Google Scholar Their report followed other work that showed a lack of international representation in publications in major psychiatric journals.2Patel V Sumathipala A International representation in psychiatric literature: survey of six leading journals.Br J Psychiatry. 2001; 178: 406-409Crossref PubMed Scopus (195) Google Scholar, 3Parker G Parker K A profile of regional psychiatry publishing: home and away.Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2002; 36: 693-696Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar For example, Patel and Sumathipala2Patel V Sumathipala A International representation in psychiatric literature: survey of six leading journals.Br J Psychiatry. 2001; 178: 406-409Crossref PubMed Scopus (195) Google Scholar reported that in six leading European and American psychiatric journals from 1996 to 1998, only 6% of the articles were written by authors from countries outside of Western Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand. Furthermore, of the three journals for which submission records were obtained, all had significantly decreased rates of acceptance for submitted papers from these countries.2Patel V Sumathipala A International representation in psychiatric literature: survey of six leading journals.Br J Psychiatry. 2001; 178: 406-409Crossref PubMed Scopus (195) Google ScholarWe investigated whether international representation in psychiatric publications has increased or decreased in the past decade. We undertook a retrospective study of publications in four leading generalist psychiatry journals from various parts of the world (British Journal of Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, and Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry) for two 2-year periods, 1991–92 and 2001–02. For all research articles (including preliminary and brief reports), we recorded the country of origin of the author to whom correspondence should be sent and calculated the frequency of representation of each country. We then compared the two time periods.The table shows that, although all four regional journals had an expected bias toward publishing articles from their geographical region, there was a shift in the distribution of contributor region between 1991–92 and 2001–02. In the American Journal of Psychiatry, the proportion of research articles authored by groups in the USA decreased whereas contributions from Europe and the rest of the world increased. Similarly, in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, the proportion of research articles by Scandinavian authors decreased and representation from the rest of Europe and the USA increased. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry showed a slight decrease in frequency of publications from local authors, from 88% to 86%, and a corresponding increase in reports from Europe and the USA. By contrast, the proportion of articles by UK authors in the British Journal of Psychiatry was higher in 2001–02 than in 1991–92, whereas the proportion from North America was lower.TableRegional distribution of research publications in four leading psychiatry journalsJournalActa Psychiatra ScandAm J PsychiatryAust N Z J PsychiatryBr J Psychiatry1991–92 (n=346)2001–02 (n=203)1991–92 (n=377)2001–02 (n=510)1991–92 (n=139)2001–02 (n=101)1991–92 (n=424)2001–02 (n=232)Origin of published researchUK11%8%2%5%1%4%65%69%Scandinavia33%23%1%4%0%0%2%4%Rest of Europe27%43%5%13%1%2%11%11%USA10%13%87%67%1%4%11%7%Canada5%4%5%6%0%1%4%1%Australia/New Zealand3%0%1%2%88%86%3%4%Asia8%7%1%3%8%3%3%3%Africa2%0%0%0%1%0%1%0%South America1%1%0%0%0%0%0%0% Open table in a new tab In this era of globalisation, should international representation in the major generalist psychiatric journals show such diverse trends? To address such disparities we need to understand whether this trend arises because of differences in submission rates or editorial process. Shekhar Saxena and colleagues have documented the under-representation of developing countries on the editorial and advisory boards of ten leading psychiatry journals.1Saxena S Levav I Maulik P Saraceno B How international are the editorial boards of leading psychiatric journals?.Lancet. 2003; 361: 609Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (59) Google Scholar Their report followed other work that showed a lack of international representation in publications in major psychiatric journals.2Patel V Sumathipala A International representation in psychiatric literature: survey of six leading journals.Br J Psychiatry. 2001; 178: 406-409Crossref PubMed Scopus (195) Google Scholar, 3Parker G Parker K A profile of regional psychiatry publishing: home and away.Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2002; 36: 693-696Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar For example, Patel and Sumathipala2Patel V Sumathipala A International representation in psychiatric literature: survey of six leading journals.Br J Psychiatry. 2001; 178: 406-409Crossref PubMed Scopus (195) Google Scholar reported that in six leading European and American psychiatric journals from 1996 to 1998, only 6% of the articles were written by authors from countries outside of Western Europe, North America, and Australia/New Zealand. Furthermore, of the three journals for which submission records were obtained, all had significantly decreased rates of acceptance for submitted papers from these countries.2Patel V Sumathipala A International representation in psychiatric literature: survey of six leading journals.Br J Psychiatry. 2001; 178: 406-409Crossref PubMed Scopus (195) Google Scholar We investigated whether international representation in psychiatric publications has increased or decreased in the past decade. We undertook a retrospective study of publications in four leading generalist psychiatry journals from various parts of the world (British Journal of Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, and Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry) for two 2-year periods, 1991–92 and 2001–02. For all research articles (including preliminary and brief reports), we recorded the country of origin of the author to whom correspondence should be sent and calculated the frequency of representation of each country. We then compared the two time periods. The table shows that, although all four regional journals had an expected bias toward publishing articles from their geographical region, there was a shift in the distribution of contributor region between 1991–92 and 2001–02. In the American Journal of Psychiatry, the proportion of research articles authored by groups in the USA decreased whereas contributions from Europe and the rest of the world increased. Similarly, in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, the proportion of research articles by Scandinavian authors decreased and representation from the rest of Europe and the USA increased. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry showed a slight decrease in frequency of publications from local authors, from 88% to 86%, and a corresponding increase in reports from Europe and the USA. By contrast, the proportion of articles by UK authors in the British Journal of Psychiatry was higher in 2001–02 than in 1991–92, whereas the proportion from North America was lower. In this era of globalisation, should international representation in the major generalist psychiatric journals show such diverse trends? To address such disparities we need to understand whether this trend arises because of differences in submission rates or editorial process.