Abstract
I am excited to announce the launch of Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry—a new peer reviewed open access journal published by Libertas Academica. Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry is an open access, broad scope, peer reviewed electronic journal which covers research and commentary into all types and aspects of mental health and psychiatric disorders throughout the lifespan, at both the basic and applied levels. The journal invites contributions from a variety of scientific disciplines that seek to develop the evidence base for the etiology, developmental pathways, risk factors, inter-generational transmission of risk vulnerability and resiliency, issues related to diagnosis, nosology, pathophysiology, epidemiology, cultural issues, measurement of outcome, change and progress indicators, and biomarkers that can aid diagnosis and monitoring of treatment response, empirically-based pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, translation of research findings into clinical practice and service, and prevention of psychiatric disorders.
Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry will publish primary research as Research Articles, Short Reports or Letters. The journal will also consider timely Commentaries, Reviews and Opinion papers, both solicited and unsolicited. The journal further seeks to stimulate critical debates about current developments and/or controversies related to psychiatric disorders and mental health. All submissions will undergo a rigorous, fair and prompt editorial peer review.
As an open access publication, the Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry will be accessible without any boundaries to all internet users throughout the world and, therefore, it is expected to considerably impact the psychiatric community. Importantly, the extensive reach of the Journal, afforded by open access, is coupled with the Editors' commitment to fair, rigorous and prompt peer-review. Moreover, articles will follow a consistent format so that publication quality will equal that of the best hard-copy publications. We hope it will become an indispensable forum for the exchange of ideas and research developments for those working in the field.
In hard-copy journals the costs of publication are met by subscriptions paid by the reader. In electronic open access journals, like the Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry, these costs are borne by the author in the form of a publication processing fee. By removing the requirements associated with hard-copy, we are able to offer a single, highly competitive publication charge that automatically includes all benefits conferred by digital technologies including the unlimited use of color, large data sets, links to other web pages and services, animations, video clips and slide shows. These benefits are paired with our full commitment to the faithful and high quality representation of the authors' data. Publication fee waivers and discounts are available on a case-by-case basis, and we shall make every effort to ensure that lack of funds does not impede the overall objective of publishing the best science, irrespective of authorship or country of origin. Importantly, authors retain copyright of their work and can grant anyone the right to reproduce and disseminate it, provided that it is correctly cited and no errors are introduced, under the Creative Commons “CC-BY” license.
Based on the benefits of online publications, the extra opportunities that digital technologies offer to authors, and the commitment of our highly qualified Editorial Board and staff, I expect that the Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry will attract manuscripts of the highest quality. Furthermore, as a result of its open access format, the Journal is expected to be a major gain for researchers around the world working in institutions that are unable to afford subscription fees for a full range of journals.
With the launching of the Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry, it is my hope to provide a unique forum for the communication and advancement of forward-thinking, high quality, multi-disciplinary work at the forefront of our field. We look forward to receiving your submissions. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact the Editor-in-Chief with your suggestions or if you would like to discuss the suitability of your contribution to the Clinical Medicine: Psychiatry.