Developmental psychobiology: a look back on 30 years

Developmental Psychobiology publishes papers from the disciplines of psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine that contribute to an understanding of behavioral development. Research focuses on development in the embryo/fetus, neonate, juvenile, and adult as well as multidisciplinary research that relates behavioral development to anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and evolution. The journal represents a broad phylogenetic perspective on behavioral development by including studies on invertebrates, fish, birds, non-human primates, and humans. This paper presents an analysis of empirical articles published since its first issue in 1968. This analysis covers number of authors, sex of first author; evidence of grant support, and participation of investigators from outside the US. Additionally, the analysis includes the topic of research, level of analysis, and subject of experimental study. Over its 32-year history, Developmental Psychobiology has published papers on a wide range of topics representing a broad phylogenetic perspective with a continued focus on behavioral investigation. This analysis revealed trends such as an increase in the number of studies at a physiology/anatomy level, an increase in studies with human subjects, and increases in contributions from investigators outside of the United States as well as women.