The number of publications on autism from researchers in the U.K. has doubled in the past decade, but the country still lags behind the U.S. in the amount of funding and the diversity of its projects, according to a report released today at the House of Lords in London.

Autism researchers presented the report during a government reception for Research Autism, a private U.K.-based charity that raises money for studies of the disorder.

Autism publications by researchers in the U.K. rose from 90 in 2001 to 186 in 2011. That’s a healthy increase, but worldwide, English-language publications on autism over the same time period nearly quadrupled from 548 to 2,101. 

Most of the U.K. studies are on children with the disorder, even though the majority of people with autism in the country are aged 18 or older. Of the 74 studies published from 2007 to 2011 that look at a specific age group, for instance, only 11 focused exclusively on adults.

Overall, in 2010 the U.K. spent £2.6 million ($4.08 million) on autism from both public and private sources, compared with $357 million in the U.S. In terms of per capita research dollars, the U.S. spends 18 times more per person with autism than the U.K. does.

About 80 percent of the autism funding in both countries comes from the government. However, they spend their money differently. In the U.K., 56 percent of the funds go toward studying the biology underlying the disorder, with the remainder split among studies on diagnosis, causes, treatments, services and societal issues.

In contrast, the U.S. spends its autism money more evenly across these categories, although neither country spends much on societal issues.

The researchers surveyed 1,600 people with autism, their families, their doctors and autism researchers on the U.K. funding priorities.

About two-thirds of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the U.K.’s emphasis on biology, brain and cognition. Instead, they said, they would like more money spent on publicly funded services for people with the disorder.

Although basic research is valuable, it’s important to find treatments and services for people with autism, notes Tony Charman, chair of clinical child psychology at King’s College London, one of the three investigators who led the study.

“I don’t think it’s right for people with autism and those who care for them to wait decades before they get better services, support and understanding,” he says.