# Global research landscape and burden of disease in pediatrics: Identifying the research gaps to set directions for a new general pediatric journal

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes the current state of pediatric research and identifies gaps to guide a new pediatric journal focused on child-centered research and standardized methodologies.

## Contribution

The paper highlights the need for a new pediatric journal that emphasizes child-focused research and addresses underrepresented areas like methodology and interdisciplinary health issues.

## Key findings

- Neurological disorders, mental health, and neonatal conditions are prominent in pediatric research and disease burden.
- Fields like dermatology and methodological studies are underrepresented in pediatric journals.
- There is a need for standardized reporting and methodologies tailored to children's unique characteristics.

## Abstract

Pediatrics intersects with almost the entire field of medicine, and thus the diversity of suitable publication platforms is particularly broad. We reviewed the current health issues among children and adolescents, the topics and scope of existing pediatric journals, as well as the distribution of a random selection of articles according to different health topics and journal types. Neurological disorders, mental health, and neonatal conditions were major contributors not only to loss of health and life among children and adolescents but also common themes of research articles and pediatric subspecialty journals. On the other hand, in some clinical areas, such as dermatology, the research does not necessarily meet the needs of practice. Methodological studies in pediatrics were rarely published, but they were common among preprints. We call for Pediatric Discovery to promote a research viewpoint that focuses on the child instead of individual conditions, pay particular attention to health concerns associated with the greatest burden and interactions between them, and promote the further standardization of reporting and methodologies that account for the unique characteristics of children and adolescents.

Pediatrics is an extremely heterogeneous field of medicine. We reviewed the themes of existing pediatric journals and trends in recently published articles in pediatrics and found that although fields such as neurology are well covered by research findings, methodological research and some fields remain understudied. We call Pediatric Discovery to pay particular attention to the unique characteristics of children and the need for standardized reporting and tailored methodologies.