Characteristics and Trends in Peer-Reviewed Publications in the Field of Psychosomatic Medicine

BackgroundThe field of psychosomatic medicine/consultation-liaison psychiatry, now a subspecialty in psychiatry, has focused its efforts on clinical care, education, and research at the interface of psychiatry, medicine, and neurology.ObjectiveWe sought to categorize characteristics and trends (over the past decade) in several journals intended primarily for practitioners of psychosomatic medicine.MethodsWe reviewed all articles published in 3 peer-reviewed journals (i.e., Psychosomatics, General Hospital Psychiatry, and the Journal of Psychosomatic Research) in 2002 and 2012.ResultsEach of the 3 journals has a different approach to publication of original research, clinical reviews, and case reports.ConclusionsThe 3 journals demonstrate differing levels of international involvement, publish a different number of articles of different types (e.g., case reports, reviews, and original research), and focus on different types of medical-psychiatric problems.