title: Research in pediatric physical therapy: an analysis of trends in first fifteen years of publication.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  All articles published in Pediatric Physical Therapy (PPT) within the first 15 years of publication were reviewed to determine research trends.
  
  
  METHODS
  All articles published in PPT (n = 262) were categorized as research or nonresearch, classified as experimental or nonexperimental, and further categorized as examination/evaluation, intervention, prognosis, and economics. The data were divided into the following three groups: Volumes 1-5, Volumes 6-10, and Volumes 11-15.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 15-year period, 64% of all published articles were derived from original research (p = 0.01). Thirty-two articles (12% of the total number of articles) met the definition of experimental, and 136 articles (52% of the total number of articles) met the definition of nonexperimental. Four research articles disseminated results from randomized-control clinical trials. The number of articles reporting experimental research did not show a significant increase during the 15-year period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pediatric Physical Therapy is a major source of information, including evidence-based research, for pediatric physical therapists, meeting the demand of therapists to base clinical decisions on research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA. lsvien@usd.edu
authors.forename: Lana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Svien
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Toby
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Long
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000639:trends*; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D014481:United States