Research in neurosurgical journals.

This study seeks to identify trends in the nature of papers published in the neurosurgical literature by reviewing all papers published in Journal of Neurosurgery, Neurosurgery, British Journal of Neurosurgery (1990 only), Acta Neurochirurgica and Journal of Neurology, Neurosrugery and Psychiatry (neurosurgical only) in the years of 1975 and 1990. Significant changes were noted in authorship and an increase in the use of stronger study designs. Problems noted were the relative paucity of controlled studies and the high incidence in the use of retrospectively acquired data.