Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 80 years: part 3 (1983-2002)

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria (ANP) celebrated 80 years in 2023. We have previously evaluated the publication trends throughout the journal's first 40 years.

To analyze the publication trends, authorship, and editorial patterns of the volumes 41 to 60 of ANP.

We analyzed the volumes 41 to 60 of ANP (1983-2002). Data were tabulated independently by five blinded researchers and crossverified by two independent researchers.

From 1983 to 2002, 20 volumes, 91 issues and 2,424 articles were published. We analyzed 2,066 articles after excluding nonresearch papers (1,159 original articles and 770 case reports). Compared with the first 20 years, there was a significant increase in the total number of authors/article (3.96 vs. 2.73, p < 0.00001), a significant increase of female authors, from 11 to 28.6% (p < 0.05), and a decrease in the number of pages/article (p < 0.05). Lineu Cesar Werneck, Hélio Afonso Ghizoni Teive, and Milberto Scaff were the most prolific authors. Most of the articles focused on Neurology/Child Neurology subjects, with a progressive decreased percentage of Psychiatry papers and increase in Basic Research contributions. There was a linear increase in the total number of articles from 1983 to 2002 as detected by regression analysis (R² = 0.9134; p < 0.0001) and an exponential increase from 1943 to 2002 (R² = 0.9046; p < 0.0001). Most of the articles were written in Brazilian Portuguese, by authors from Southeastern Brazil (60.2%).

The years 1983 to 2002 marked the transition to the current ANP format: minimal Psychiatry contributions; greater contribution from Southern Brazilian states; and, starting in 1999, greater acknowledgment of sponsorship from research agencies and postgraduate training.