Important publications

Research can often be described in terms of specific publications that indicate especially important turning-points in the activity of the research group. For McNeil, such publications have been occurred approximately every seven years.

High risk strategy in schizophrenia research
In 1968 Mednick & McNeil published an article the risk-reserach strategy. This article initiated much of the extensive high-risk research on the etiology of schizophrenia during the seventies and the eighties.

Perinatal trauma and schizophrenia
In 1976 McNeil & Kaij presented a detailed description of the research area of perinatal trauma and schizophrenia at the Rochester International Schizophrenia Congress. The conference proceedings, published as a book in 1978, identified perinatal trauma as an important etiological factor in schizophrenia and contributed to the interest in the research area.

Obstetric Factors and Perinatal Injuries
In 1986 McNeil was invited to publish a chapter on Obstetric Factors and Perinatal Injuries in Handbook of Schizophrenia, the same year as the Dahlem Konferenzen in Berlin on Biological Perspectives of Schizophrenia published his contribution on Perinatal Influences. These central publications mark an acceptance in the research community of perinatal trauma as an important etiologic factor for schizophrenia.

Abnormal brain development before birth
In 1993 the Malmö group published an article proving that schizophrenic patient suffered from abnormal brain development prior to birth.

The importance of the birth process for alterations in brain structure
In 2000 an article was published together with the brain researcher Daniel R Weinberger on the importance of the birth process to the brain structure among twins suffering from schizophrenia.

The Nobel Symposium
The publication from the Nobel Symposium in Schizophrenia´s Pathophysiology, published in 2000, further confirms that the obstetric complications research area has gained general acceptance.