Research Brief: Some Data Concerning the Reporting of Participants Gender in the Mental Retardation Literature

The gender of participants in articles published from 1991 through 2000 in eight journals relevant to mental retardation was determined. Overall, participants were used in 65% of the articles; gender was not reported in 26% of them. When gender was reported, 6%, 8%, and 60% of the investigators used females only, males only, and both sexes, respectively. Unless gender is reported, one cannot ascertain to whom results should generalize or whether gender affects the variable under investigation. For these and other reasons, we recommend that researchers routinely specify how many of their participants are males and how many are females. This information requires little space and in most cases is easy to obtain.