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Background: The aim of this paper is to assess the mental health system in Brazil in relation to the human resources and the services available to the population.

In the third in a series of six articles on packages of care for mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries, Jair Mari and colleagues discuss the treatment of schizophrenia.

Brazilian scientific output exhibited a 4-fold increase in the last two decades because of the stability of the investment in research and development activities and of changes in the policies of the main funding agencies. Most of this production is concentrated in public universities and research institutes located in the richest part of the country. Among all areas of knowledge, the most productive are Health and Biological Sciences. During the 1998-2002 period these areas presented heterogeneous growth ranging from 4.5% (Pharmacology) to 191% (Psychiatry), with a median growth rate of 47.2%. In order to identify and rank the 20 most prolific institutions in these areas, searches were made in three databases (DataCAPES, ISI and MEDLINE) which permitted the identification of 109,507 original articles produced by the 592 Graduate Programs in Health and Biological Sciences offered by 118 public universities and research institutes. The 20 most productive centers, ranked according to the total number of ISI-indexed articles published during the 1998-2003 period, produced 78.7% of the papers in these areas and are strongly concentrated in the Southern part of the country, mainly in São Paulo State. Correspondence

Objective:  To analyze the status of mental health research in 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC). Method:  Medline and PsycInfo databases were searched to identify the LAC authors. Their publications were classified according to the topic, type of research and target population studied. Scientific indicators of these countries were assessed in other two different databases: Essential Scientific Information and Atlas of Science Project, both from Institute for Scientific Information. Results:  Indexed‐publications were concentrated in six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. Most studies dealt with the burdensome mental disorders but neglected important topics such as violence and other mental health priorities. Conclusion:  Mental health research is mostly concentrated in a few LAC countries, but these countries would contribute to reduce the research gap, if they provide research training to their neighbors and engage in bi‐ or multi‐lateral research collaboration on common region priorities.

A b s t r a c t Objective: The prevalence and burden of mental disorders have been growing in Latin-American and the Caribbean countries and research is an important tool for changing this scenario. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of mental health research in Latin American and the Caribbean countries from 1995 to 2005. Method: The indicators of productivity were based on the ISI Essential Science Indicators database. We compared the number of papers and citations, as well as the number of citations per paper between 1995 and 2005 for each country ranked in the Essential Science Indicators. Result: Eleven LatinAmerican countries were ranked in the ISI database and six of them demonstrated a higher level of development in mental health research: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Mexico produced the largest number of papers, while Brazil showed a larger number of citations per paper. Conclusion: Mental health research is still incipient in Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and many challenges remain to be overcome. Also, it is necessary to establish the research priorities, to allocate more funding, and to improve researchers training in research method and design.Descriptors: Latin America; Mental health; Research; Science, technology and society; Psychiatry Resumo Objetivo: A prevalência e a carga dos transtornos mentais vêm crescendo nos países latino-americanos e a pesquisa tem sido considerada uma importante ferramenta para alterar este cenário. Este estudo descreve o desenvolvimento da pesquisa em saúde mental nos países latino-americanos e Caribe no período de 1995 a 2005. Método: Foram utilizados os indicadores de produtividade baseados no banco de dados "Essential Science Indicators" do ISI. Foram comparados o número total de artigos e citações e também o número de citações por artigo para cada um dos países classificados no Essential Science Indicators. Resultados: Foram encontrados 11 países latino-americanos e Caribe no ISI, e seis destes apresentaram um maior desenvolvimento em pesquisa em saúde mental: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México e Venezuela. O México foi o que apresentou o maior número de artigos, enquanto o Brasil apresentou maior número de citações por artigo. Conclusão: A pesquisa em saúde mental nos países latinoamericanos e Caribe ainda é incipiente e muitos desafios necessitam ser superados, como o estabelecimento de prioridades, maior alocação de fundos e aprimoramento do treinamento dos pesquisadores em metodologia e desenhos de pesquisa.

Mari JJ, Patel V, Kieling C, Razzouk D, Tyrer P, Herrman H. The 5/95 gap in the indexation of psychiatric journals of low- and middle-income countries.Objective:To investigate the relationship between science production and the indexation level of low- and middle-income countries (LAMIC) journals in international databases.Method:Indicators of productivity in research were based on the number of articles produced over the 1994–2004 period. A survey in both Medline and ISI/Thomson was conducted to identify journals according to their country of origin. A WPA Task Force designed a collaborative process to assess distribution and quality of non-indexed LAMIC journals.Results:Twenty LAMIC were found to present more than 100 publications and a total of 222 indexed psychiatric journals were found, but only nine were from LAMIC. The Task Force received 26 questionnaires from editors of non-indexed journals, and concluded that five journals would meet criteria for indexation.Conclusion:Barriers to indexation of journals contribute to the difficulties in achieving fair representation in the main literature databases for the scientific production in these countries.