In the last years, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is considered an emergent pathological entity. For this reason, a bibliometric analysis regarding scientific publications related to ADHD and its pharmacological treatment has been considered out, as well as its evolution during 1980-2005 period.

Using the EMBASE and MEDLINE database, we selected those documents whose title included the descriptors attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, attention deficit disorder, ADHD y ADD.

A total of 5269 original documents were obtained, and 2325 of these documents are corresponding to some aspects about drugs therapy. As bibliometric indicators of the production and dispersion, Price´s and Bradord´s Laws, were applied, respectively. Our data confirm the Price´ Law since scientific production about ADHD have an exponential growth (correlation coefficient r=0.9859, vs. r=0.9011 after a linear adjustment), without to estimate a saturation point. The more studied drugs are methylphenidate (1251 documents), mixed amphetamine salts (250), atomoxetine (204) and dexamphetamine (143). The division into Bradford´s areas shows a central nucleus occupied by Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (500 articles) exclusively. Other papers are distributed into 10 areas with a mean of 505.4 documents. A total of 886 different journals were used. The highest participation index (PaI) corresponds to Journal of Attention Disorders (PaI=64.96). The more frequently used support journals have a high impact factors (IF) (12 of the 20 first have a IF>2)