[Psychiatry in the journal "Der Nervenarzt" 1928-2000]

By analysing the complete edition of the German-language psychiatric journal "Der Nervenarzt" from 1928 to 2000 we examined basic trends in the historical and scientific orientation of psychiatry in this journal. All published articles (n=3270) were classified under formal aspects and were assigned to one of 30 categories by content. Inter-rater reliability was determined in 3 years from different eras (1957, 1977, 1997). With kappa values between 0.65 and 0.81 the inter-rater reliability was moderate to good. The mean number of authors and the mean number of references in the articles has been increasing continuously, particularly within the last decade. The mean number of words per article has been relatively constant. In nearly all 5-year periods, most of the articles came from Heidelberg, Munich and Berlin. In addition to original articles, review articles were introduced in 1971 and medical education articles in 1978. Since 1955 the "Nervenarzt" has been publishing the communications of the German Psychiatric and Neurological Society. Original articles with data reports and articles using statistics have been increasing continuously since the 1960s, reflecting an increasing evidence-based orientation of psychiatry. The currently accepted scientific standard was introduced in the early 1990s. The last decade, the "decade of the brain", not only yielded a high proportion of articles on biological issues but also indicated an increasing interest in institutions of psychiatric care and psychotherapy. On the other hand, links to related disciplines such as philosophy, sociology and psychology seem to have got lost. The percentage of articles from abroad has been decreasing within the last 2 decades. In comparison, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Archives of General Psychiatry and the British Journal of Psychiatry have been publishing a higher percentage of original articles, particularly randomised controlled trials.