[German language psychiatry journals in Germany - a quantitative analysis]

Abstract

Objective: Although English is medicine's lingua franca, practising physicians in Germany express the need for articles in German. This study aimed at surveying the number and characteristics of German-language psychiatric journals in Germany.

Methods: Journals were identified by the standard handbook "Fachmedien Gesundheit" as well as by an online and library search, and divided into specialty journals and general psychiatry journals. Volume 2009 of all general psychiatry journals was analyzed regarding form and content.

Results: In 2009 74 journals addressed psychiatrists, albeit many not exclusively. Ten were general psychiatry journals publishing 391 review articles and 97 original papers. They differed with regard to focus (science, education, health politics) and formal characteristics, such as circulation (500-30 000), share of academia-affiliated authors (39-93 %), female first-authors (13-44 %), COI statements (0-98 % of articles), and international visibility.

Conclusions: While much of German psychiatric science appears in English, there are still a substantial number of original articles published in German, and there is a diverse psychiatric journal scene in Germany.