Are top journals biased against eating disorders topics?

Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Feb;160(2):363-5. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.160.2.363.

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated whether there is a bias against eating disorders research among the leading psychiatric, psychological, and medical journals.

Method: The authors performed a comparison between the number of empirical articles published about anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia nervosa and the number of articles published about panic disorder and/or agoraphobia (i.e., disorders of comparable disease burden) in 29 high-impact journals over a 5-year period (1996-2001).

Results: There were almost twice as many published empirical articles about panic disorder and/or agoraphobia (N=365) as there were about anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia nervosa (N=169).

Conclusions: The findings indicate a possible bias against eating disorders research among some leading psychiatric journals. Alternative explanations and implications are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agoraphobia / epidemiology
  • Anorexia Nervosa
  • Bulimia
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Panic Disorder / epidemiology
  • Periodicals as Topic / standards*
  • Periodicals as Topic / statistics & numerical data
  • Publication Bias*
  • Publishing / standards
  • Publishing / statistics & numerical data
  • Quality-Adjusted Life Years