-During the past four decades the participation of women in medicine has increased dramatically. This study is focused on the women's participation in authorship of articles published in the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, the official Journal of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology. The articles were analyzed according to the number of articles and sex of both first and the senior (last) authors. The data were collected from 1945 to 2005. A total of 950 articles were published in this period. The proportion of women serving as first authors increased from 2.8% to 36.6% and the proportion serving as senior authors increased from 2.8% to 23.8% The medical profession and the scientific production have traditionally been dominated by men but this imbalance is likely to change. In fact, during the past four decades the participation of women in medicine has increased dramatically. In the USA, for example, the proportion of women as authors of articles from six prominent medical journals -N Engl J Med, JAMA, Ann Intern Med, Ann Surg, Obst Gynecol, and J Pediatr -has significatively increased 1 . In this study we focused on the women's participation in authorship of articles published in the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, the official journal of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology.
METHODThe articles from the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria were categorized according to the number of articles and the sex of both first and the senior (last listed) authors. The data were collected for the years 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005.
RESULTSA total of 950 articles were published in the journal during the years studied. Overall, 19.5% (186/950) of the first authors and 18.4% (175/950) of the senior authors were women. The proportion of women serving as first authors increased from 2.8% (1/35) to 36.6% (77/210), and the proportion of women serving as senior authors increased from 2.8% (1/35) to 23.8% (50/210) (Table).
DISCUSSIONThis study demonstrates a substantial increase in women' s representation as the principal or senior authors of scientific articles published in the Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, the main Brazilian journal in the neurology field. Dur-