Abstract
It is a great pleasure to write my first editorial as the new editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. At this time of transition, especially when my predecessor Sidney Block has completed 13 years in this role, it seems appropriate to provide readers with a sense of the direction that is being planned for the ‘blue and silver’ journal. A regional general psychiatric journal has two major objectives: to be an international flagship for psychiatric research in Australia and New Zealand, and to provide continuing education to College Fellows, trainees and psychiatric researchers.
To be an international psychiatric research journal, we must attract top researchers to submit some of their high quality work. Researchers want a journal of high standing, with a worthy impact factor (IF). Of the 87 psychiatric journals listed in the web of science, this journal ranks 56th and has an impact factor of 1.3. The first ranked journal is the Archives of General Psychiatry (IF = 10.5), followed by the American Journal of Psychiatry (IF = 7.2), Biological Psychiatry (IF = 6.0) and Molecular Psychiatry (IF = 5.5). The British Journal of Psychiatry is ranked 8th (IF = 4.4), Psychological Medicine is ranked 21st (IF = 3.1), Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica is ranked 33rd (IF = 2.4) and the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry is ranked 38th (IF = 2.1). An early objective for this editor is to have the journal ranked in the top 40 of the listed journals and to have an impact factor above two. A longer term objective is to achieve an impact factor over four. As the impact factor is calculated from citations to journal articles over the past two years, not only must we attract top researchers to submit to the journal, but also encourage these researchers and writers to appropriately reference articles from this journal. Citations should follow from the publication of high-quality papers, and from controversial papers.
A second factor which will encourage leading researchers to submit is a rapid assessment and publication time-frame. As the submission process is now electronic, and as we now have a monthly publication, it is the responsibility of the editor and associate editors to make a rapid preliminary decision on whether or not to seek review. This editor will likely send fewer papers out to review, so as to decrease the workload on reviewers. Reviewers have the responsibility of either agreeing to complete a review within three weeks of receipt of a submitted paper or advising early that they are unable to review. Even, after just a brief time in the role, it is apparent that obtaining rapid reviews may be one of the challenges of the position. The editor and associate editors will make decisions rapidly, and provide clear guidance when revisions are necessary. It is the responsibility of the editor, in conjunction with the publisher, to ensure rapid publication.
As psychiatric research is completed by people from a variety of trainings, it is planned that leading international non-psychiatrist psychiatric researchers will be invited onto the Journal's Editorial Advisory Board. As leading Australian and New Zealand researchers have international standings, the Australasian Advisory Board will be disestablished, and a single international advisory board will be created, but with a majority of Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists and psychiatric researchers. To immediately assist the editor, five associate editors from both Australia and New Zealand have been appointed. It is envisaged that these associate editors will share the load, making a preliminary decision to proceed with review, of selecting reviewers, and making editorial decisions on submitted manuscripts after receipt of reviewers' comments. In addition the associate editors will contribute to the design and layout of the Journal. The editor and associate editors will also have responsibilities to encourage the submission of high-quality papers to the Journal.
While it is envisaged that about 70% of journal articles will present the results of high quality original research from all areas of clinical psychiatry and of psychiatric research, the editor hopes that about 30% of the articles in each issue will be systematic or comprehensive review articles [1], [2], briefer reviews [3], current opinion articles [4], clinical updates or guidelines [5], historical articles [6], describe methods in psychiatric research [7], or provide reports on subjective experiences or personal testimonies [8]. Hopefully, every College Fellow, psychiatric registrar and psychiatric researcher will find at least one ‘must read’ article in every issue. Among the papers in any issue the editoral team dreams of an intriguing mixture of good clinical practice, informative psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic clinical trials, sound epidemiology, insightful psychological and social research, challenging cultural research, controversial health services research, and exciting neuroscience, neuroimaging and genetics. Hopefully, some papers may bridge mind and brain, or molecules and behaviour. The Journal plans to be neither mindless nor brainless.
In the selection of articles for publication, the editor will consider whether the submitted paper contains a message which potentially improves the lives of people who suffer from mental disorders. The editor's philosophy is that progress requires optimism tempered by realism; a positive mixture of hypothesis and refutation. Papers which enhance ‘recovery’ of people with mental disorders, or contribute to a better understanding, better treatments and better outcomes will be welcomed.
Over the coming year, instructions to authors will be revised. Clearer guidelines on the structure of research papers will be provided, but in the interim authors may wish to read instructions to authors in the British Journal of Psychiatry. In particular authors should consider shorter introductions, although we will not adopt such a rigid maximum length to the introduction as the British Journal of Psychiatry. Clearer statements on the declaration of conflicts of interest will be issued. The editor does not believe that conflicts of interest are limited to relationships with pharmaceutical companies or issues of personal financial gain. If funding agencies or organizations require authors to obtain approval prior to submission, this potential conflict of interest should be declared. It will also be further clarified that papers are accepted on the condition that the data has not previously been published (except in abstract form), including in the public press, official reports or on websites.
The editor is not immediately planning on having supplements to the Journal, except for the abstracts of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Annual Congress, and of the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Annual Research Meeting. However, a part or all of some issues of the Journal will be devoted to specific themes or topics. If international meetings are being planned for Australia or New Zealand, the editor is open to discussions with conference organisers to have the issue immediately prior to, or following, the conference contain relevant peer reviewed articles. An early specific topic issue is planned for the January/February 2006 issue, and the theme will be bipolar disorder. Original research papers on bipolar disorder should be submitted by mid-2005, for peer review, and potential inclusion in the first issue of 2006. This issue will also be the first issue with a new layout and design. As the American Psychiatric Association moves towards producing DSM-V, a special issue on diagnostic reliability, validity and utility in psychiatry will be planned. Issues with a special focus on consultation liaison psychiatry and forensic psychiatry have been planned by the previous editor, issues on psychiatric epidemiology, longitudinal studies, and women's mental health are being planned by the current editor.
I look forward to the challenges of the next five years, and perhaps beyond, and invite all College Fellows, trainees and psychiatric researchers to engage with the editor and the Journal to enhance the quality, ranking, impact factor and relevance of the Journal, and thereby contribute to improving the lives and promoting the recovery of people who suffer from any mental disorder.