Content Analysis of Abstracts Published in Autism Journals in 2021: The year in Review.

Researchers looked at over 1,000 autism studies published in 2021 to see what topics were most studied. They found that mental health, social skills, communication, quality of life, and parenting stress were the main areas of research. Most studies came from the USA, UK, Australia, and Canada. The good news is that research topics matched what autistic people and families said were important to them.

This content analysis examined 1,102 abstracts from 11 autism journals published in 2021 to identify research trends and geographical contributions. The analysis revealed that mental health, social communication, social skills, quality of life, and parenting stress were the most common research topics. The USA contributed the most studies, followed by the UK, Australia, and Canada. Research topics aligned with priorities identified by autistic individuals and their families.

The study highlighted a significant gap in research production between developed and developing countries, with 5,837 autism-related documents published globally in 2021.

The alignment between research topics and stakeholder priorities suggests improving relevance of autism research. However, geographical disparities indicate potential barriers to accessing evidence-based interventions in developing countries. Practitioners should be aware that current research heavily represents perspectives from developed nations.

This is a descriptive content analysis limited to 11 specific journals and one year (2021). The methodology for topic classification is not detailed, and the study doesn't examine research quality or outcomes, only publication topics and geographical distribution.

Ever since Leo Kanner first described autism in 1943, the research in this field has grown immensely. In 2021 alone, 5837 SCOPUS indexed documents were published with a title that contained the words: "autism", "autistic", or "ASD". The purpose of this study was to examine the most common topics of autism research in 2021 and present a geographical contribution to this research. We performed a content analysis of 1102 abstracts from the articles published in 11 Autism journals in 2021.

The following journals, indexed by the SCOPUS database, were included: Autism, Autism Research, Molecular Autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Advances in Autism, Autism and Developmental Language Impairments, and Autism in Adulthood. According to the analysis, the main research topics were: mental health, social communication, social skills, quality of life, parenting stress, ADHD, Covid-19, self-efficacy, special education, and theory of mind. In relation to geographic distribution, most studies came from the USA, followed by the UK, Australia, and Canada. Research topics were aligned with the priorities set by stakeholders in autism, most notably persons with autism themselves and their family members.

There is a big gap in research production between developed countries and developing countries.