To describe the characteristics of psychiatric research and their development over one decade with respect to the researchers' gender as captured in the articles published by three high impact general psychiatric journals.

All articles published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the British Journal of Psychiatry and the Archives of General Psychiatry in 1994 and 2004 where considered for analysis. Articles were classified as research or non-research articles and further categorised according to a number of variables, including the methodological approach, the field of research, specific topic areas and number of participants studied. For all articles, the gender of the first and all co-authors was assessed as well as the academic degrees of the first and corresponding authors. Descriptive data anaylsis was performed.

Not surprisingly, first authors were significantly more often male than female. The difference declined markedly between 1994 and 2004 but remained highly significant. At the symposium, detailed data on gender specific differences and changes over time in publication patterns will be presented for the first time. Issues to be discussed will include the relationships between gender and specific research fields, study size, the choice of biological or social outcome variables, the reporting of funding sources and more.

This systematic gender specific analysis of publication trends reflects the status of women at the leading-edge of psychiatric research. It may serve to highlight the impact of recent policies supporting women's careers in research and can act as a baseline for future gender specific monitoring.