Abstract
We have served as the editorial team of Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (JIACAM) from 2018 to 2021 with great support from chief advisor, executive editor, advisory board, editorial board, esteemed reviewers, and many more mentors, colleagues, friends, and well-wishers. When we look back, we recall many challenges, opportunities, and learning experiences during our tenure. So, we thought of penning down those experiences and sharing them with you all. Please read this compilation with your heart and mind.
Vision
The Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (IACAM) was conceived in the year 1988 and was born in 1990 during the first National Conference of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, held at Pune, and subsequently an ad hoc executive committee was constituted. In year 1991, IACAM was registered with an aim to promote the study, treatment, and care of child and adolescent mental health problems; prevention of mental and emotional disorders; promotion of positive mental health; and national and international collaboration for improving practice and research in the area of child and adolescent psychiatry. In 1994, IACAM was affiliated with International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP).
To disseminate the information, scientific updates and research among experts, in the year 2005, a peer reviewed, quarterly online journal was started and named as JIACAM. Dr Beena Johnson, a senior consultant in child guidance, is amongst the founding members of our e-journal, JIACAM, and had done the whole work of creation of the website with active support from her husband Dr Johnson Francis, a renowned cardiologist and academician. Since 2005, Dr Beena Johnson is sincerely looking after the journal work as the Executive Editor and is also maintaining the JIACAM website. The IACAM is grateful with the humane contribution and selfless service by Dr Beena Johnson and Dr Johnson Francis, as for the last 17 long years (ie, since the inception of JIACAM in the year 2005) both of them have managed the journal website from their personal expenses, with deep compassion and scholar contribution. We are deeply touched with their kind gesture and constant support.
The first article of the journal was an editorial written by our Founding Editor Professor Indira Sharma and was titled as “Parenting, a challenge in the new millennium: Implications for mental health of children.” 1 Eminent experts Professor Indira Sharma (2005), Professor Pratap Sharan (2006 to 2009), Professor Srikala Bharath (2010 to 2011), and Professor Vivek Agarwal (2012 to 2017) have served as the Honorary Editors and have contributed immensely to take JIACAM to greater heights.
Challenges
To continue the progressive journey of JIACAM, we started our journey in January, 2018, with Dr Suravi Patra (Associate Editor) and Dr Navratan Suthar (Assistant Editor). The editorial committee really worked hard to bring the first issue of the present editorial team. In our first issue (in January 2018), the guest editorial was contributed by Norbert Skokauskas, Chair, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Section, World Psychiatric Association, and Carolyn Clausen, and it highlighted “how we can improve the access to child and adolescent mental health services in low- and middle-income countries.” 2
Our initial challenge was to increase the number of submissions to further improvise the numbers and quality of research articles in every issue of JIACAM. To achieve this target, we tried very hard in our editorial response with timely processing of submissions, ie, desk rejection within 1 to 10 days of submission, first peer review comments within 3 to 4 weeks, and acceptance within 2 to 3 months upon submission. Additionally, we started releasing JIACAM issues on time, sometime even before time, along with sharing information about new issues and articles on the online platform. In this way, we started seeing phenomenal increase in manuscript submissions year after year.
Later, we found it very difficult to manage the quantum of work (increased submissions, acknowledgement and timely communication, processing of articles, plagiarism check, and copy editing, etc.) with limited number of hands and support. Because JIACAM remained an e-journal ever since inception, without any publishing group, in recent years, professionals and authors expressed their wish of having hard copies of the journal to fulfil requirements of regulatory bodies for their recruitment and promotions.
Opportunities
With these challenges, we could foresee the issues and, therefore, devised certain practical solutions. In due course of time like-minded colleagues came together and we could expand our editorial team with associate editors Dr Suravi Patra, Dr Jitender Aneja, Dr Navratan Suthar, and Dr Pooja Patnaik Kuppili, and assistant editors Dr Tanu Gupta, Dr Swati Choudhary, and Dr Kartik Singhai.
We have witnessed phenomenal increment in submissions, more so during the past 2 years of COVID-19 pandemic, which can be gauged by the statistics of the journal in the past 4 years. We received 90 submissions in 2018, 145 submissions in 2019, 299 submissions in 2020, and 256 submissions in 2021. During this period, the acceptance rate remained in the range of 15% to 20% and we could increase the number of manuscripts published per issue of JIACAM. During the last one and a half years, ie, during the pandemic time, we have published about 20% of manuscripts related to COVID and details are as following. Original research papers were published on “Perceived stress, parental stress, and parenting during COVID-19 lockdown,” 3 “COVID-19 lockdown related anxiety in students,” 4 “Psychological impact of ‘lockdown’ on behavior of children during COVID-19 pandemic,” 5 “Parents’ views about online classes during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” 6 “Psychological and emotional response to lockdown in children during the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 in urban areas of Jaipur,” 7 along with a bibliometric assessment of global publications on the “Impact of COVID-19 on mental health of children and adolescents 8 and IACAM position statement on “Exposure to smartphone and screen media in children and adolescents and COVID-19 pandemic.” 9
Viewpoints on “Mental health impact of COVID-19 lockdown in children and adolescents” 10 and “Risk of digital addiction among children and adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic” 11 were also published. Letters to the editor were published on “COVID-19, lockdowns and internet access” 12 and “Thriving through COVID-19- promoting resilience in adolescents,” 13 and guest editorial on “The silent victims of the pandemic: children and adolescents during the COVID-19 crisis.” 14 There were also editorials on “Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health,” “COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity in disguise for child and adolescent psychiatry!,” “Parent’s response to COVID pandemic: challenges ahead and way forward,” and “Steps to mitigate the immediate and long-term consequences of COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents” were published.
In this way, JIACAM continued focus on publications and dissemination of non-COVID research as well. To take the JIACAM to a next milestone, our dear friend Dr Jitender Aneja (Associate Editor) expressed his interest in exploring options of publishing JIACAM with leading publishing groups of medical journals. With the proper guidance and support of the executive council of IACAM, and sincere inputs of Dr Jitender Aneja, we have made this thought a reality. So, from the next issue of JIACAM, ie, January, 2022, onwards we had the print copies of JIACAM on our desk along with the already available online copies.
Our dedicated team really worked very hard to provide scientific knowledge, updates, and clinical pearls to our sagacious readers. We are very grateful to the journal committee for their all-time support, guidance, and affection. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Chief Advisor of JIACAM, Professor Savita Malhotra, for her constant support, guidance, and mentoring in our journey. Esteemed advisory board and editorial board members have also been constantly guiding, supporting, and helping us to keep the journey of JIACAM on the right track and to achieve more milestones in due course of time. Our vibrant and dynamic reviewers have remained very helpful and thorough in their reviews and scientific inputs for improvising and enriching the manuscripts. Finally, we would like to thank all the learned authors for their significant contribution and our sincere readers for regularly reading and circulating JIACAM articles and giving us inspiration and energy to work hard for the child and adolescent mental health.
Under the able guidance of IACAM executive council, experts, advisory and editorial board, and our dynamic and vibrant Editor, Dr Nitin Gupta, his team will surely take the JIACAM to greater heights. In this way, we will truly contribute toward achieving the aims and objectives of IACAM with the expansion of scientific knowledge and services for child and adolescent mental health.