Submit Your Manuscript

 

Author Instructions ▼

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Scope: The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (JCP)
Journal Statistics and Impact Information

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Manuscript
Quick Submission Checklist
Author Form

AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Authorship
Originality of Work
Preprint
Previous Presentation
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology
Analyses of Preexisting Data Sets
Reprinted or Adapted Graphics
Clinical Trials Registration
Copyright Policy
Financial Disclosure
Acknowledgment
Citation of Unpublished Material
Helpful Links

EDITORIAL REVIEW AND PUBLICATION

Peer Review
Copyediting
Embargo
Reprints
Permissions
Policy on Postpublication Changes
Terms and Conditions

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES

Submission and Publication
Supplementary Material
Extensive Author-Requested Changes During Copyediting
Corrections/Errata
Reprints
Permissions

OPEN ACCESS AND FREE ACCESS OPTIONS

Article Access Options
Green Open Access Option: Government or Public Funding
National Institutes of Health (NIH)–Funded Research Articles
Gold Open Access License Types
Free Access Option
Guaranteed Print Option
Combined Guaranteed Print and Free or Open Access Option

MANUSCRIPT COMPONENTS

Cover Letter
Title Page
Word Counts
Abstract
Letters to the Editor (includes case reports)
Text of the Article
Citations
Tables and Figures

SPECIAL SECTIONS

Early Career Psychiatrists
Focus on Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health
Focus on Geriatric Psychiatry
Focus on Psychosis
Focus on Suicide
Focus on Women’s Mental Health

AUTHOR FAQs

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

We encourage you to submit your manuscript if it fits within the scope of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Acceptance is contingent on favorable peer review. Our user-friendly electronic manuscript submission and peer-review system allows you to submit your manuscript online securely, conveniently, and instantly. The system will request that new authors register for an account; authors who have previously submitted should use their previous account login information. Authors can track the progress of their manuscripts from submission to final decision. Assistance is available via email if needed.

We are asking all clients to use electronic delivery methods to submit any information or documents needed in support of our service to you. Please do not provide information using physical mail as we may not be able to retrieve it during this time.

NOTE: This account is separate from your Psychiatrist.com and CMEInstitute.com accounts. Thus, even if you are already registered to access our sites, you will still need to establish an account in the manuscript submission system.

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (JCP)

See the JCP Masthead

Founded in 1939, JCP is an international peer-reviewed journal published in print every 3 months with weekly online postings bringing new content to readers as quickly as possible. The JCP strives to publish academically sophisticated, methodologically sound manuscripts that are aimed more at the practicing clinical psychiatrist than the researcher.

Manuscripts should deal with the epidemiology, classification, and treatment of psychiatric disorders or development and validity of measurement instruments. Pertinent manuscript types include

• Original research
• Systematic reviews
• Meta-analyses
• Case reports and series
• Commenting letters to the editor

Experimental drug trials involving a compound not currently available in the United States may be considered if (1) the compound is expected to be released soon in the United States or (2) it offers some unique and interesting clinical features.

To submit your concisely written, appropriately referenced, and focused manuscript that fits within this scope and the word count, see Manuscript Components.

Journal Statistics and Impact Information

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry:

• Submission-to-first decision time (mean): 24 days
• Submission-to-acceptance time (mean): 4.4 months
• Average number of articles published/issue: 16
• JCP is the world’s most cited independent, indexed, clinical psychiatry journal with the following statistics:
  • Impact Factor of 5.3 (Journal Impact Factor from Clarivate, 2023)
  • Mails to over 33,000 readers of the print journal
  • Emails sent to over 35,000 allied mental health professionals who have requested receipt of informational updates about our jour​nals and Web CME activities
  • Over 100,000 registered users of our website
  • Nearly 900,000 users per year with over 1.3 million visits at Psychiatrist.com (Google Analytics, June 2021)
  • Over 20,000 followers on Facebook and over 29,000 followers on Twitter

  The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry has been the official journal of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology since 2005. The goal of this partnership is to disseminate clinically relevant information for practicing clinicians and to provide a venue for researchers to share their results with physicians working in the field.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Manuscript

Include the following in the manuscript, prior to submission:

• Sources of direct funding, support, or sponsorship for the research, or a statement of lack thereof, must be inserted into the manuscript.
• Role of the sponsor must be included in the manuscript for any manuscript that has had funding, support, or sponsorship.
• Relevant financial relationships for each bylined author, or a statement of lack thereof, must be included in the manuscript.
• Acknowledgment of individuals who have contributed to the research or manuscript but do not qualify for authorship must include their highest academic degree and affiliation and a statement as to the type of contribution and relevant financial relationships, or lack thereof.
• Clinical trials registration number, with a link or URL to the registration page, must be included in both the abstract and text of any manuscript reporting a clinical trial. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a clinical trial as “any research project that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to 1 or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.”

Include permissions from the source for the following:

• Reprinted or adapted graphics must be properly annotated with source information, and permission from the copyright holder must be sought.
• Personal communications and unpublished data must be identified in text and attributed to a person, with that person’s full name and degree and the year of the data included in text; written permission from that person to be cited must be uploaded to the journal at the time of submission

Quick Submission Checklist

Author Form

At the time of manuscript submission or revision, the journal must have received a separate, completed Author Form from each individual author.

Author:

By signing the Author Form, the bylined author

• confirms authorship
• transfers copyright unless open access is required or author is a government employee
• swears that the work is original
• ensures that applicable relevant financial relationships, or a statement of lack thereof, have been included in the manuscript

Corresponding Author:

Submissions should have only ONE corresponding author. By signing the Author Form, the corresponding author

• swears that written permission has been received by each individual named in the acknowledgment
• confirms that all sources of direct funding, support, sponsorship, or provision of materials, or a statement of lack thereof, have been inserted into the manuscript
• verifies that a statement regarding the role of the sponsor has been included in the manuscript if the manuscript reports financial support
• ensures that permissions for all reprinted or adapted graphics have been requested from the copyright holder(s) at the time of submission and will be uploaded to the journal at the time a revision is uploaded

Submission of the Completed Form:

This form can be submitted to the journal by either:

• scanning and uploading to the electronic submission system (manuscript numbers are not necessary for uploading into the system, but are helpful if forms are sent directly to the publisher)
• emailing to [email protected] for The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

AUTHOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Authorship

Persons listed as authors must have made contributions in each of these 4 areas:

1. Conception and design or data analysis and interpretation
2. Drafting of the manuscript or revision for important intellectual content
3. Approving the final version of the manuscript that is to be published
4. Accountability for all aspects of the work and the ability to identify the contributions of each coauthor and ensure the integrity of their contributions

All persons designated as authors should fulfill these 4 criteria, and all those who qualify should be listed as authors. All authors must have contributed sufficiently to the work to take public responsibility for the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of a research group, alone, does not justify authorship. If authorship is attributed to a group, each member must meet authorship criteria; group members who do not meet these criteria should be listed in an acknowledgment.

The corresponding author will serve on behalf of the other authors as the primary contact with the editorial office and is responsible for ensuring that the acknowledgment and direct support information are complete. This person is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the article.

Further detailed information can be found at the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) website: http://www.icmje.org/.

Originality of Work

Research for which results do not substantially overlap with previously published research by the same authors or group of authors qualifies as original research.

Manuscripts should be submitted to only one (1) journal, which is to be held in confidence with that journal until review is complete, leading to rejection, revision, or acceptance by the journal or withdrawal by the authors.

Preprint

The journal will consider submissions that have been previously posted as preprints on established preprint servers that adhere to industry standards (such as bioRxiv and medRxiv).

1. In their cover letter, authors should indicate that their article was previously posted on a preprint server and provide the digital object identifier (DOI) or URL for the preprint. They should then specify whether and how the submitted paper differs from the preprint.
2. Authors may not initiate a preprint posting or update an existing preprint once the article has been submitted to the journal for peer review.
3. If the article is accepted for publication, the authors must update the preprint with a link to the published version.

Previous Presentation

Poster presentations and submission to a clinical trials registry do not constitute previous publication, but notation should be made in the manuscript of any presentations and clinical trials registration. If results of original research have been presented at a meeting or meetings, it does not constitute previous publication, and the manuscript may still be published for the first time with the journal. However, all information about presentations should be annotated in the manuscript.

In an endmatter footnote, include the following for each meeting:

• Name of the meeting
• Location (city, state or city, province/country)
• Date(s) of the presentation

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology

Artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted technology does not meet the requirements for authorship and so may not be listed in the byline as an author or cited as an author. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure the accuracy or integrity of the work. If AI models or tools are used to create content or assist with writing or manuscript preparation, authors must take responsibility for the content generated and should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their manuscript, including content generated by the AI tool.

AI technology may be used only to improve readability and language, not to replace research tasks such as interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions. All use of AI in the drafting of the manuscript must be disclosed. Authors who have used AI-assisted tools in the writing process must include on the title page of the manuscript a section labeled, “Use of AI-assisted technologies in the writing process.” Please use the following disclosure:

“In the writing of this manuscript, the author(s) used [name, version, manufacturer of AI tool] for [reason for use]. The author(s) have reviewed the content and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.”

This policy does not apply to use of AI and AI-assisted tools in research design or methods, which should be described in the Method section.

Analyses of Preexisting Data Sets

For manuscripts that report analyses of preexisting data sets, provide details related to accessing the data set, including

1. the individual or organization that owns the data set (ie, holds copyright)
2. where the data set resides (if possible, provide a URL at which it can be accessed)
3. contact information of someone who can provide access to or further information about the data set, if it is not accessible via a URL

This information should be inserted as a statement into the text’s Method, eg, “The original data set is available from…,” or any wording that’s appropriate, or inserted at the end of the article (just before references), eg, “Additional information: The [full proper name of database] can be found at [specific URL].”

Reprinted or Adapted Graphics

Authors must obtain letters of permission to reproduce published material. These documents should be included at the time of submission of the manuscript and can be uploaded as an “Additional Information” file type.

Clinical Trials Registration

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a clinical trial as “any research project that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to 1 or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.”

The journal requires, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry that meets the criteria noted in the following paragraphs. (Such registration does not constitute previous publication.)

Registration requirements are as follows:

• For trials beginning on or after July 1, 2005, registration must have occurred before the first patient was enrolled (“prospective registration”).
• For trials beginning on or after July 1, 2008, whose primary goal is to assess major unknown toxicity or determine pharmacokinetics (phase 1 trials), registration must have occurred before the first patient was enrolled (“prospective registration”).
• For trials that began before July 1, 2005, retrospective registration, meaning registration occurs after patient enrollment began, is acceptable.

A public trials registry must meet several criteria:

• accessible to the public at no charge
• open to all prospective registrants
• managed by a not-for-profit organization
• have a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data
• be electronically searchable

An acceptable registration must include, at minimum, the following:

1. a unique trial number
2. trial registration date
3. secondary identification information if assigned by sponsors or others
4. funding source(s)
5. primary and secondary sponsor(s)
6. responsible contact person
7. research contact person
8. official scientific title of the study
9. research ethics review
10. the medical condition being studied
11. intervention(s)
12. key inclusion and exclusion criteria
13. study type
14. anticipated trial start date
15. target sample size
16. recruitment status
17. primary outcome
18. key secondary outcomes

For detailed information, please see “Frequently Asked Questions” of the ICMJE Recommendations (previously “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”) website at http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinical-trials-registration/.

The following trial registries meet the required criteria, although the journal does not advocate one particular registry:

• Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: http://www.anzctr.org.au/
• ClinicalTrials.gov: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/
• ISRCTN Register: http://www.isrctn.com/
• Nederlands Trial Register: http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp
• UMIN Clinical Trials Registry: http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr
• European Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT) for registrations after June 20, 2011: https://eudract.ema.europa.eu/
• Any of the primary registers that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP): http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/ 

Registry name, URL, and trial ID number must be provided in

• the online submission form and
• the manuscript, both at the end of the abstract and in the Method of the text.

Copyright Policy

The journal’s copyright policy applies to all manuscripts except those published open access. The journal requires the express transfer of copyright to Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., to protect the author(s) and Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., from misuse of copyrighted materials. Accepted manuscripts become the property of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., and may not be published or posted online elsewhere, in part or in whole, without written permission from Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc. (See also Terms and Conditions.)

Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., publisher of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders, must retain exclusive and unfettered copyright of published materials either in print or electronic formats in perpetuity with the exception of materials published open access. The publisher’s copyright protection lasts the life of the author plus an additional seventy (70) years.

Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry or The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders that report original research funded in whole or in part by an NIH grant have the journal’s permission to submit their accepted manuscript to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy provided that the manuscript is made publicly available no sooner than 12 months after the official date of publication. [See National Institutes of Health (NIH)–Funded Research Articles.]

Financial Disclosure

Relevant Financial Relationships:

Authors are required to provide either (1) a statement indicating relevant financial relationships involving their manuscript or (2) a statement that they have no relevant financial relationships. Conflicts should reflect activity by the author within the last 24 months and include, but are not limited to

• Receipt of funding, support, sponsorship, or provision of materials, including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, etc, from organizations that may gain or lose financially through the publication of the manuscript.
• Personal financial interests, including stocks and shares in companies that may gain or lose financially from publication; consultation fees or forms of remuneration from organizations that may gain or lose financially; or patent and patent applications whose value may be affected.

• Employment, whether recent, present, or anticipated, by an organization that may gain or lose from publication of the manuscript.
  • If an employee was employed by a supporter of the study at the time of the research, it must be stated in the “Relevant financial relationships” footnote. An addendum should be added that recognizes the current location of the employee.

• • If an employee is currently employed by a supporter of the study, this redundancy of the affiliations must still be noted in the “Relevant financial relationships” footnote.

Funding/Support:

Describe direct support in the manuscript; direct funding, support, sponsorship, or provision of materials includes salaries, equipment, supplies, etc, from organizations that may gain or lose financially through the publication of the manuscript.

Role of the Sponsor:

If the study was directly supported in any manner, then a statement on the role of the sponsor in the study must be noted, including publication of the manuscript.

Acknowledgment

Authors may include a footnote in the endmatter that acknowledges contributions of groups or persons who do not qualify for authorship. Acknowledged individuals might include those who have provided data gathering, writing, or clerical assistance; statistical or general review; or performance of special tests.

When specific individuals are acknowledged, 2 steps must be taken:

First: The Corresponding Author:

1. must receive written permission from the acknowledged person to be acknowledged
2. asserts, by signing the Author Form, that written permission has been received from individuals being acknowledged

Second: The Manuscript must include the following information for each person named in the Acknowledgment:

1. highest academic degree
2. institutional affiliation
3. type of assistance
4. relevant financial relationships statement (For manuscripts in which many persons are acknowledged, a summary statement that applies to all acknowledged individuals and the effect any of their relevant financial relationships may have had on their participation in the study is acceptable.)

Citation of Unpublished Material

Unpublished material includes personal communications and unpublished data such as data on file and manuscripts in preparation, submitted but not yet accepted, or forthcoming (accepted but not yet published). Each type of unpublished material must meet a specific set of criteria for it to be included in the manuscript, but the most important criterion is that written permission from the source of the unpublished material must be submitted to the journal. See the Citations section under Manuscript Components for specifics on how to handle these types of citations.

Helpful Links

ICMJE’s Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals

Published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), this document, formerly titled Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, covers ethical principles related to evaluating, improving, and publishing manuscripts, as well as technical aspects of preparing and submitting manuscripts.

CONSORT Statement

The CONSORT Statement provides guidelines for improved reporting of clinical trials through the use of a checklist and study flow diagram.

PRISMA Statement

The PRISMA Statement provides guidelines for transparent reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses through the use of a checklist and study flow diagram.

EDITORIAL REVIEW AND PUBLICATION

Peer Review

Manuscripts submitted for publication in the journal that meet its scope and submission criteria are sent to expert consultants for peer review. Please see Reviewers for details about the peer review process and information on becoming a reviewer.

Copyediting

Manuscripts accepted for publication after peer review will be copyedited for clarity, conciseness, and conformity with journal style and returned to the corresponding author for approval. Bylined authors are responsible for all statements in their work, including changes authorized by the corresponding author.

Embargo

Articles are embargoed until they are published online at Psychiatrist.com. Contact [email protected] for information about a specific forthcoming (“in press”) article for The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. (See Copyright Policy and Terms and Conditions.)

Reprints

Single copies of articles or back issues, as well as larger quantities of high-quality photocopies or reprints, can be purchased from [email protected]. At the time of publication, all authors are sent notification when their manuscript publishes. Corresponding authors receive a complimentary PDF with instructions on how the PDF may and may not be used. Learn more about reprints, eprints, and permissions at this link: Reprints and Permissions. (See also Copyright Policy and Terms and Conditions.)

Permissions

Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., owns the copyrights for the material published in its publications, The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders, and their associated websites. The information as it is presented in all forms is the property of the Company. See Reprints and Permissions for how to acquire permission to use copyrighted material.

Policy on Postpublication Changes

Charges will be incurred for any changes requested after publication, with the exception of any error introduced by the publisher. Payment must be received before changes will be made to the published piece.

Terms and Conditions

All materials published by Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., are the property of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., unless otherwise stated, and are subject to all laws pertaining to copyrighted work.

Retention of copyright by Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., means the work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, photocopying, or otherwise; distributed in any form or by any means; publicly displayed in any form including but not limited to Internet, Extranet, PowerPoint, or posters; and used for commercial, promotional, or marketing purposes, which include sale, resale, transfer, loan, license, or other forms of commercial exploitation. (See also Copyright Policy.)

ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES

Click the link inside the table to review further details about each fee. If questions, contact the Publications Manager at [email protected]

Submission and Publication

The journal does not charge submission or publication fees, eg, color printing. However, charges are associated with some aspects of article processing. See the table of Article Processing Charges and the table of Article Access Options.

Every accepted manuscript will be published online, be indexed at PubMed, and appear on the issue’s Table of Contents. The 30%–50% of articles appearing in the print journal are chosen at the discretion of the Publisher and Editor in Chief. To ensure your article appears in the print publication, the journal offers the Guaranteed Print option.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material is subject to a posting fee of $120 per page. Estimates will be provided at the time of submission, and payment is due upon acceptance. Authors may indicate if the supplementary material is for Reviewers’ information only.

Submitting Supplementary Material:

• Must be submitted in one file, separate from the manuscript file, and uploaded in PDF format only. If multiple files are submitted, authors will be asked to append them into 1 PDF, with the exception of a Checklist not intended for publication, which should remain separate.
• Must be essential to the integrity of the manuscript
• Will be submitted for peer review
• Will not be copyedited or formatted for publication by journal staff
• Must be submitted with written permission to reproduce any material from a copyrighted source
• Is subject to a posting fee of $120 per page unless the material is added in response to peer review

Examples of Supplementary Material:

PRISMA and CONSORT Checklists and Flowcharts:

Extensive Author-Requested Changes During Copyediting

Authors are given at least 2 opportunities to review their article after copyediting. They will receive:

1. a PDF showing all changes made by the copyeditor and accompanied by queries to the corresponding author

2. a PDF for review in page layout format to ensure all changes have been implemented during the copyediting phase of production and to look for any errors

• If extensive changes are received after the article has been finalized in page-layout form but prior to publication, charges may be incurred.
• Graphics: If a new graphic is provided to replace one already created for page proofs or the author requests extensive revisions to the current graphic, a fee may be charged.
• Corresponding authors will be notified of charges prior to changes being made to determine whether requested changes are a necessity.

Corrections/Errata

When an article has been approved by the author to go forward with publication, or if the author fails to provide approval by the deadline and the article is moved forward without approval, the article is considered in the publication cycle and any author changes at this point will incur a charge. Charges begin at $150/page, and if realignment is required, the charge would be an additional $75/page, although every effort will be made to avoid realignment. If the change affects PubMed indexing information or requires a correction to be published, a $300 fee may also be charged. Payment must be received before changes will be made to the published article. An exception would be any error introduced by the publisher, in which case the author would not be charged.

Reprints

Single copies of articles can be purchased through the website, and back issues as well as larger quantities of high-quality photocopies or reprints can be purchased by going to the Reprints and Permissions page on the website. All authors are notified when their article is published. Corresponding authors receive a complimentary PDF with instructions on how the PDF may and may not be used. Learn more about reprints, e-prints, and permissions through this link: Reprints and Permissions. (See also Copyright Policy and Terms of Use.)

Permissions

All editorial material published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders or on CME Institute.com and Psychiatrist.com is the property of Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., unless specifically stated. See Reprints and Permissions for instructions to acquire permission to use copyrighted material. (See also Copyright Policy and Terms of Use.)

OPEN ACCESS AND FREE ACCESS OPTIONS

If your research was funded by noncommercial source(s), please review the requirements of the funder regarding open access prior to submitting your manuscript.

• Funding source(s) must be stated in both the submission form and in the manuscript at the time of submission.
• Determine the type of funding your research has received.
• Use the Article Access table below to compare requirements of the funder with the journal’s available access options. The author must declare the type of open access license at the time of acceptance.
• Contact [email protected] if you have questions or to pay associated fees. Fees will be the responsibility of the author.

Article Access Options

Click the link inside the table to review further details about each fee. If questions, contact the Publications Manager at [email protected]

Green Open Access Option: Government or Public Funding

Green open access is available for articles with US National Institutes of Health, US Department of Veterans Affairs, or other government or public funding. Immediately upon publication:

• Author uploads the peer-reviewed and accepted manuscript (not final published version) into public (eg, PubMed Central, Europe PMC) and/or institutional repositories as needed.
• The accepted manuscript may be made publicly accessible in accordance with the terms of your funding.

(Publisher HTML and PDFs are copyrighted and may not be posted elsewhere. If your funder requires immediate self-archiving of the author accepted manuscript, contact the publisher at [email protected] for more information. Purchase of Free Access to the published article and Guaranteed Print options is available.)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)–Funded Research Articles

In accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy (http://publicaccess.nih.gov), authors of manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal that report original research funded in whole or in part by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant must post their research in the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) System for later deposit in the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central (PMC):

• Final, peer-reviewed manuscripts must be submitted to NIHMS immediately upon acceptance for publication. The “accepted manuscript” is the final version accepted for journal publication that includes all modifications from the publishing peer review process but does not include author-approved editing/copyediting and formatting by the journal’s editorial staff during the publication process.
• The publisher of the journal allows accepted manuscripts to be posted at PMC no sooner than 12 months after the official date of publication. Thus, authors submitting their accepted manuscripts to PMC in NIHMS must set the embargo date to 12 months after publication.

Submitting PDFs of the final copyedited article to PMC or NIHMS is prohibited and constitutes copyright infringement. Therefore, a PDF of the publisher’s article should not be submitted or posted. The article of record is the final version published on the journal’s website. The journal assumes no responsibility for earlier versions, which may differ substantively.

Gold Open Access License Types

Gold Open Access is available for manuscripts with funding from Plan S funding sources. See below for the Creative Commons Copyright (CCC) licenses that may apply; the type of license will appear in the article’s copyright statement. The cost for Gold open access is $5,000. Immediately upon publication, the author uploads the PDF of the article into the repository required by the funder. Submission of payment signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use for copyrighted work (see also the Copyright Policy). Contact the Publications Manager at [email protected] to pursue this option.

• CC BY = Copyright Clearance Center license that allows complete and unfettered copyright in the public domain, ie, allows others to distribute, remix, tweak, and build on your work, even commercially, without permission, provided that credit is given to the original authors and journal.
• CC BY-ND = Copyright Clearance Center license that allows copyright to be in the public domain, but it is nonderivative (no changes allowed) and allows for commercial use. The journal recommends this open license over CC BY to protect the integrity of the author’s work, although to use it, the funder may require the author to obtain an exception from the funder. The author must declare the type of OA license at the time of acceptance.
• CC BY-NC-ND = Copyright Clearance Center license that is nonderivative (no changes allowed) and does not allow for commercial use.

Free Access Option

Authors whose funding does not require open access publication will, at the time of acceptance, be offered Free Access and Guaranteed Print opportunities. The journal website attracts over 1.2 million users per year, most of whom are nonsubscribers who must pay a fee to read an entire article online. The option of financial sponsorship allows you to provide each web visitor unrestricted access to your article, thereby increasing its potential audience. To further expand your article’s visibility, an email announcement of its Free status is also sent to the journal’s email requestors. The charge for this service is $3,000. Submission of payment signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use for copyrighted work. Contact the Publications Manager at [email protected] to pursue this option.

Guaranteed Print Option

While all JCP articles are published online on the journal’s website and indexed at PubMed, about 30%–50% of them are chosen for JCP’s print edition at the discretion of the Editor in Chief and Publisher. Authors of accepted articles have the option to ensure inclusion of their article in the print issue, thus reaching more than 33,000 clinicians who receive each issue and rely on JCP as a trusted information source.

While many factors guide the decision to print certain articles, the Publisher and Editor in Chief are single-blinded to those that are Guaranteed Print in order to retain an unbiased selection of articles they believe will be of interest to the journal’s print readers. Authors are provided the Guaranteed Print option at the time of acceptance, and the charge for this service is $4,000. Submission of payment signifies your agreement to the Terms of Use for copyrighted work. Contact the Publications Manager at [email protected] to pursue this option.

Combined Guaranteed Print and Free or Open Access Option

Authors who want to ensure their article will appear in print and also be freely available to nonsubscribers of JCP’s website are provided this option at the time of acceptance for a reduced fee. Authors wishing to take advantage of both the Guaranteed Print option and either the Free Access or Open Access option receive a discount of $1,000 for the combination of services, which is offered at the time of acceptance:

• Free Access + Guaranteed Print = $3,000 + $3,000 (discounted) = $6,000
• Gold Open Access + Guranteed Print = $5,000 + $3,000 (discounted) = $8,000

Submission of payment signifies your agreement to the Terms and Conditions for copyrighted work. Contact the Publications Manager at [email protected] to pursue this option.

MANUSCRIPT COMPONENTS

Cover Letter

An electronic cover letter is required for all manuscript types, including letters to the editor. Title pages of the manuscript file will NOT serve for this purpose. Manuscripts are reviewed with the understanding that they represent original material, have never been published before, are not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and have been approved by each author. Prior publication constitutes any form of publication other than an abstract or clinical trial registration and includes invited articles, proceedings, symposia, and book chapters. Authors should fully inform the editor in the cover letter if the submitted manuscript contains data or clinical observations that have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere, supply copies of such material, and explain the differences between the works.

Manuscripts should have margins of at least 1 in and be double-spaced throughout, including title page, abstract, text, references, tables, and legends for figures. Number pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, beginning with the title page. Each section should begin on a separate page, and the sections should be arranged in the following order: (1) title page, (2) abstract and key words, (3) text, and (4) references. Tables and figures should be submitted as separate file(s) from the manuscript.

Title Page

The title of the article should be concise but informative and should convey the basic design of the study.
For each author, provide first name, middle initial, and last name along with highest academic degree(s) and departmental and institutional affiliation, including city/state/country location.
At the bottom of the title page, list the following:

1. Sources of financial and material support, specifying the nature of the support and the location (city and state/country) of the funding source
2. Indications of previous presentation, including the date(s) and location of the meeting where the data were presented
3. Acknowledgment of assistance (see Acknowledgment)
4. Relevant financial relationships for each bylined author, or a statement that none exist (see Relevant Financial Relationships)
5. Any applicable disclaimer statements
6. Full address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the corresponding author
7. ORCID identifiers, for authors who have them

Word Counts

Articles:

• All article types should include a structured abstract of about 250 words or less, no more than 5 tables and/or figures, and no more than 75 references.
• If including a greater number of references is essential to the article (eg, certain review articles), JCP staff will shorten the reference list by eliminating article titles from journal article references. This format will apply to the typeset (PDF) version and, if the article appears in the printed journal, in the print version.

The HTML version of the article will retain the full version of the references.

• Original research should have a maximum length of 3,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, figures, and references).
• Reviews and meta-analyses should be no more than 5,000 words of text.
• Consensus statements should be no more than 5,000 words of text.

Case Reports:

• Should not exceed 600 words and should not include more than 1 table or figure
• Should be styled as a Letter to the Editor
• Should describe novel, well-documented findings that will be of help and interest to the practitioner
• Only exceptional cases (eg, those involving multiple crossover trials or sophisticated laboratory techniques) will be considered for publication as full articles.

Letters to the Editor:

• Letters of original research should not exceed 600 words and should not include more than 1 table or figure
• Letters commenting on a recent article(s) in the JCP should not exceed 500 words and will be sent to the author(s) for response.

Abstract

If you are submitting an article, you are required to include a structured abstract of about 250 words or less. The abstract must reflect the text or graphics; that is, no information should be included in the abstract that cannot be drawn from the text or graphics.

Reports of Original Data:

Objective: State the question addressed in the study.

Methods: Describe the basic study design. State the setting (eg, primary care, referral center). Explain selection of study subjects and state the system of diagnostic criteria used. Describe any interventions and include their duration and method of administration. Indicate the main outcome measure(s). Specify the dates in which data were collected (month/year to month/year).

Results: Include the key findings. Give specific data and their statistical significance, if possible (include P value if findings were significant). Subset Ns should accompany percentages if the total N is < 100.

Conclusion: Summarize the conclusions.

Clinical Trials Registration: If the article reports a clinical trial, give the trial registry name, URL, and registration number.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses:

Objective: State the primary objective of the article.

Data Sources: Describe the data sources that were searched, including dates, keywords, and constraints (eg, language limits).

Study Selection: Identify the number of studies reviewed and the criteria used for their selection.

Data Extraction: Summarize guidelines used for abstracting data and how they were applied.

Results: State the main results of the review and the methods used to obtain these results.

Conclusions: Summarize the conclusions.

Review and Case Study Combined:

Objective: State the primary objective of the article.

Data Sources: Describe the data sources that were searched, including dates, keywords, and constraints (eg, language limits). If the list of search terms is complicated and somewhat lengthy, a summary of terms can be used in the abstract.

Study Selection: Identify the number of studies retrieved and ultimately reviewed and the criteria used for their selection. By reading the abstract, the reader should be able to follow the progression of the process.

Data Extraction: Summarize guidelines used for abstracting data for the meta-analysis and how they were applied. The case-control study information under Method should be incorporated here.

Results: State the main results of the review and the methods used to obtain these results.

Conclusions: Summarize the conclusions.

Consensus Statements:

Objective: State the issue, purpose, and intended audience.

Participants: Describe how people were chosen to be participants, state the number of participants, and describe their areas of expertise. State whether meetings were open or closed.

Evidence: Describe what data sources were used and explain their selection, abstraction, and the method of their synthesis. If a formal literature review was conducted, state who wrote it and whether it was reviewed. Describe any use of unpublished data. Explain the influence of expert opinion and comments from the participants.

Consensus Process: Describe the basis for conclusions. State how consensus was achieved. Describe the writing of the consensus statement, including who wrote it, whether it was drafted before or after the group expressed its opinions, and when it was written. Explain who reviewed the statement and how revision suggestions were utilized.

Conclusions: Summarize the consensus statement, and include any important minority views.

Further details on writing informative structured abstracts can be obtained from the following:

• Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth EJ, et al. More informative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med. 1990;113(1):69–76. [dx.doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-113-1-69]
• Hayward RSA, Wilson MC, Tunis SR, et al. More informative abstracts of articles describing clinical practice guidelines. Ann Intern Med. 1993;118(9):731–737. [dx.doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-118-9-199305010-00012].

Letters to the Editor (includes case reports)

Letters must include a descriptive title, but they should not have an abstract. Most letters to the editor either report cases or small studies or comment on a recent Journal article. Letters to the Editor and case reports should not exceed 600 words and 1 table or figure.

Case reports should describe novel, well-documented findings that will be of use to the practitioner.

For case reports and small studies, ensure that the chronology of events is clear, and specify the month/year in which events occurred. Specify diagnostic criteria used for any diagnoses mentioned, and provide references for scales/assessment tools used. If a search of the literature was conducted for related case reports, specify the data sources, keywords, and any date/language limitations used in the search.

Letters reporting small studies typically include (1) a brief introductory paragraph, (2) sections titled “Method” and “Results” (labeled with capitalized headings), and (3) a conclusions/discussion section.

Letters reporting cases typically consist of (1) a brief introductory paragraph, (2) description of the cases, and (3) a discussion section. For letters reporting multiple cases, the types of clinical and demographic details given (eg, race, gender, occupation, marital status, medications, follow-up) should be consistent among the cases. It is not necessary to include all of these details in case reports, but if a particular characteristic, eg, occupation, is reported for one case, it should be reported for all of the cases.

For letters commenting on a Journal article, include a numbered reference to the article discussed. Be concise, and support your assertions with references as applicable. Also, please note that the authors of the original article will be given the opportunity to reply to letters commenting on their article. Letters that pertain to recent articles in the Journal should not exceed 500 words.

Text of the Article

Reports of Original Data:

The text of observational and experimental articles is usually divided into sections with the headings Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion. Lengthy articles may need subheadings within some sections to clarify their content. Manuscripts should have a maximum length of 3,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, figures, and references).

• Use nonproprietary names of drugs, unless a specific trade name is relevant to the discussion.
• Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.

Introduction

State the purpose of the article. Summarize the rationale for the study or observation. Give only strictly pertinent references, and do not review the subject extensively. Do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.

Methods

Describe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects (including controls) clearly, including eligibility. Identify the methods, apparatus (manufacturer’s name and city/state/country location in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below). Include references for all assessment tools, including scales, used in the study. Describe new or modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration. Specify the dates in which data were collected (month/year to month/year).

• Diagnosis. State the diagnosis and diagnostic criteria. Justify the use of diagnostic criteria other than DSM.
• Clinical Trials Registration. If the article reports a clinical trial, give the trial registry name, URL, and registration number.
• Informed Consent/Ethics Review. Manuscripts that report experimental investigations with human subjects must include a statement that subjects (or parents/guardians) gave their informed consent after the procedure(s) and possible side effects were fully explained. Also state whether institutional review board approval was obtained for the investigation; if it was not, provide an explanation. Investigators without access to formal ethical review committees should follow Declaration of Helsinki guidelines and state this in the manuscript.
• Patient Confidentiality. Ethical and legal considerations dictate protection of patients’ identity. Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers in text or illustrative material. Avoid specific dates and disguise characteristics and personal history that would identify a patient.
• Statistics. Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information. Give numbers of observations. Report losses to observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). Reference statistical tests that are not well known. Specify any general-use computer programs used.

Results

Present your results in logical sequence. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or figures; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Subset Ns should accompany percentages if the total N is < 100. For original research, absolute numbers and measures of uncertainty such as confidence intervals should be included, as well as P values. Results should not be shown as not significant or NS; actual P values are important for future meta-analyses research. Please include actual P values, and preferably confidence intervals or limits, when reporting nonsignificant results.

Discussion

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail material given in the Introduction or the Results section. Present in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by your data.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

When preparing review articles and meta-analyses, describe the methods used in performing the literature review. This description includes listing the data sources searched (for example, MEDLINE) and the dates, keywords, and constraints (for example, language limits) used in the search; the criteria used to select the included studies; and the guidelines used for abstracting and synthesizing the data. Word limit for review articles and meta-analyses should not exceed 5,000 words of text. PRISMA guidelines should be followed, and a PRISMA Flowchart included as a figure. The journal considers a PRISMA Checklist submitted as supplementary material to be for reviewers’ information only and will not consider it intended for publication. The Checklist should be uploaded as a separate file labeled “PRISMA Checklist” with the “Supplementary material” file type selected. However, if authors wish it to be included in their Supplementary Material, they may do so at the appropriate charge.

In meta-analyses, several basic content areas should be addressed: study design, combinability, control of bias, statistical analysis, sensitivity analysis, and problems of applicability.

Please refer to the information on Abstracts for a more detailed framework of the necessary elements for review articles and meta-analyses.

Consensus Statements:

Consensus statements should identify the participants and their areas of expertise, as well as the source of funding or sponsor. Describe the data sources used and explain their selection, abstraction, and the method of their synthesis. A description of the process used to reach consensus should be included. Explain how conclusions were reached.

Please refer to the information on Abstracts for a more detailed framework of the necessary elements for consensus statements. Word limit for consensus statements should not exceed 5,000 words.

Citations

Bibliographic References:

The reference list should include only references to information that is retrievable. Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of the references against the original publications or presentations. Reference lists are limited to 75 references.

Citing References in Text and Graphics

• Number references consecutively in the order in which they are cited in text. If a graphic is called out that contains a reference not previously cited, it would be the next consecutive reference, and then the text would pick up with the next “new” reference.

Example
Reference 28 is the last reference cited in text before the Table 1 callout, which has references not yet cited in text, starting with reference 29 and going through 77. Text in the Discussion picks up with the next new reference, 78.
. . . Metabolite ratios including glutamate have been found to change with age.^27,28 Table 1 shows the characteristics of each study, compares glutamatergic metabolites . . .

• Identify references by superscript Arabic numerals. When applicable, place the reference after the study itself or an author’s name, if you choose to mention a name.

Reference List Style

The journal follows the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition. Abbreviations of journal names must conform to Index Medicus style.

• “Forthcoming” references to articles accepted but not yet published can be cited and included in the reference list if the title and journal name or book publisher are given (see Unpublished Material).
• References to personal communications or to material not yet accepted for publication may not be included in the reference list, but instead should be cited parenthetically in text (see Unpublished Material).

Unpublished Material:

Unpublished material includes personal communications and unpublished data such as data on file and manuscripts in preparation, submitted but not yet accepted, or forthcoming (“in press”).

• Each type of unpublished material must meet a specific set of criteria for it to be included in the manuscript, but the most important criterion is that written permission from the source of the unpublished material must be submitted to the journal.
• Another important point: personal communications and unpublished data should only be cited in text and not included in the list of references.

Ways to include these citations and the requirements for each specific type of unpublished material:

Personal Communications

To include a personal communication from each person you identify as a source of information:

In the manuscript, authors must

1. provide the person’s initials, surname, and highest academic degree(s)
2. include the date of the communication
3. state whether the communication was in written, verbal, or electronic form

In the submission system:

4. upload written permission from the person whose personal communication is cited

Unpublished Data

To include unpublished data from each person you identify as a source of information:

In the manuscript, authors must

1. provide the initials, surname, and highest academic degree(s) of the cited individual(s); up to 3 researchers may be mentioned
2. include the year in which the data were produced

In the submission system:

3. upload written permission from the person identified as the source of information for the data if the source is not one of the bylined authors; the written permission must be uploaded to the journal with the manuscript’s submission

Unpublished Data in Meta-Analyses

When performing a meta-analysis, you may sometimes need to contact the author of an article you’re citing for information that was not published, eg, to learn the disposition of a subject or whether certain data were collected but not reported in the original study. If you contact these authors and further information is provided:

• citation is required
• you do not need permission from them to cite their information

Data on File

Data on file from a pharmaceutical company are considered unpublished data.
In the manuscript, authors must

1. provide the initials, surname, and highest academic degree(s); if more than 1 person should be included as a researcher of the data, then up to 3 researchers may be mentioned
2. include the year in which the data were produced

In the submission system:

3. upload written permission from the person identified as the source of information for the data if the source is not one of the bylined authors; the written permission must be uploaded to the journal with the manuscript’s submission

Manuscripts Submitted, Forthcoming, or in Preparation

When citing an unpublished manuscript, consider that the status of the cited manuscript may change substantially from the time when your manuscript is submitted/accepted until the time it is published. Before citing unpublished data, consider whether doing so could jeopardize publication of the manuscript still in review, ie, whether publication of your manuscript could potentially “scoop” the data presented in the one still under review. If it could, then you should not publish outcomes reported in that manuscript, and the relevant information should be removed from your article.

• Submitted:
  When citing data from a manuscript that has been submitted but that has not yet been accepted, you must consider whether publication of the data could jeopardize publication of the manuscript still under review, ie, whether it could potentially “scoop” that manuscript’s data presented. If it could, then you should not publish outcomes reported in that manuscript, and the relevant information should be removed from your article.
  If you still wish to cite a submitted—but not yet accepted—manuscript, the citation must be placed in text and not in the numbered bibliographic references. It is labeled as “unpublished data,” and the same rules apply as for unpublished data:

1. 1. obtain written permission from the primary researcher of the data if one of the bylined authors is not a researcher of the data
   2. include the year in which the data were produced
   3. provide the initials, surname, and highest academic degree(s); if more than 1 person should be included as a researcher of the data, then up to 3 researchers may be mentioned

• Forthcoming:
  Manuscripts accepted for publication are considered forthcoming (formerly, “in press”) and should be listed in the bibliographic reference list and numbered consecutively with other citations in text. If you’ve cited a submitted manuscript that is later accepted during the review process of your manuscript, Journal staff should be notified, and a decision will be made whether to add the  manuscript to the references and renumber the list or simply footnote the full reference. The style would resemble the following:

• In preparation:
  If you want to cite one of your manuscripts that is still in development, and it has data that have not yet been submitted to a journal, it can be cited parenthetically in text as “manuscript in preparation”; however, you need to be aware that citing results in this current manuscript could constitute previous publication and may jeopardize future acceptance of the in-preparation manuscript. Authors will need to provide the same information as for unpublished data.
  1. obtain written permission from the primary researcher of the data if one of the bylined authors is not a researcher of the data
  2. include the year in which the data were produced
  3. provide the initials, surname, and highest academic degree(s); if more than 1 person should be included as a researcher of the data, then up to 3 researchers may be mentioned

Tables and Figures

Computer-generated figures should be submitted as separate files (minimum 300 dpi). Please provide . . .

• Editable figure(s) saved from the original software by using the “Save As” or “Export” function to create an AI (Adobe Illustrator), EPS, or PDF from the original file.
• If created in a Microsoft package, supply the original file DOC, XLS, or PPT.
• If all that can be provided is an image (vs the editable figure itself), supply one of the following:
  • 600 dpi minimum PDF
  • JPG saved at the maximum quality setting
  • PSD (Adobe Photoshop)

Tables and figures should not duplicate text or one another and must be self-explanatory. Tables should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text, as should figures. Acknowledge the original source of a previously published or adapted table or figure and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material.

Footnotes. 3 types:

• General footnotes are designated by lowercase superscript letters. Footnote anchors may be placed in both the title and the body and should proceed alphabetically from top to bottom, and left to right, as one would read across a page of the journal.
• Simple P values given in footnotes are indicated by single asterisk, double asterisk, etc.
• Abbreviations should be expanded in the last footnote after the label “Abbreviations:” and be listed in the alphabetical order of the abbreviation. It does not need to be anchored to the text.

Tables. Identify each table by a brief descriptive title. Give each column a short heading. When percentages are presented, the appropriate numbers must also be given. Do not use internal horizontal and vertical rules. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the headings or title. Units of measurement should be specified. Definitions of symbols appearing in tables should be listed at the end of the footnotes, with the expansions of abbreviations.

Figures. Two-dimensional graphs should not be represented in 3 dimensions. Figures are usually reduced to a width of 19.5 picas (3.25 in, 8.2 cm). Definitions of symbols appearing in the figure should be presented in a key (or legend) within the figure, rather than in the title or footnotes. The key should appear within or above the figure but should not widen the figure.

References Within Graphics. Ensure references embedded within a graphic are numbered consecutively with the text, from where graphic’s callout is first cited. See Citing References in Text and Graphics.

SPECIAL SECTIONS

All manuscripts submitted for Special Section consideration (as indicated by authors at the time of electronic submission) will undergo the Journal’s usual editorial evaluation and peer review. Authors are invited to submit both high-quality research manuscripts and scholarly reviews. Only full-length articles are eligible for inclusion in special sections. Letters to the Editor will not be considered for these sections.

Early Career Psychiatrists

The objective of the Early Career Psychiatrists section, edited by Joseph F. Goldberg, MD, is to encourage the academic development of early career psychiatrists. Manuscripts selected for this section will be those deemed through the review process to represent excellent work from the next generation of researchers in psychiatry.

Eligibility criteria for first authors:

• Trained psychiatrists with an MD, MD/PhD, or DO degree
• Less than 5 years from completion of training
• Current academic rank no higher than Assistant Professor

Focus on Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health

The objective of the Focus on Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health section, edited by Karen D. Wagner, MD, PhD, is to encourage scientific studies regarding the mental health of children and adolescents, promote excellent clinical care of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders, and help keep the psychiatric community informed about the latest research developments. In addition to manuscripts covering studies of the phenomenology of childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders and clinical trials of treatments for childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders and associated symptoms, authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts regarding the use of genomic and brain imaging studies related to childhood and adolescent mental health. Disorders include pediatric mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders as well as oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pervasive developmental disorders, tic disorders, intellectual disability, other developmental disorders, and any other disorder that may present during childhood or adolescence. Other topics include any biological, psychosocial, economic, or health services aspect of childhood and adolescent mental health. We also invite manuscripts related to the scientific understanding, differential diagnosis, early detection and monitoring, treatment, and prevention of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents.

Focus on Geriatric Psychiatry

To encourage scientific studies relating to the mental health of older adults, JCP is calling for submissions to the Focus on Geriatric Psychiatry section, edited by Gary W. Small, MD, and Jordan F. Karp, MD. Topics of interest include late-life depression, memory disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, grief, anxiety, resilience, and cognition. Manuscripts may address any biological, psychosocial, economic, or health services aspect of mental health in older adults, including preventive and lifestyle-related factors, care in nursing home settings, and end-of-life care. We invite high-quality research focusing on various treatment modalities, including pharmacologic treatment, psychotherapy, and complementary therapies. All submitted manuscripts will undergo the Journal’s usual editorial evaluation and peer review.

Focus on Psychosis

The objective of the Focus on Psychosis section, edited by Ann K. Shinn, MD, is to promote scientific research that impacts the clinical care of individuals with psychotic disorders and related conditions. Topics may pertain to conditions across the continuum of psychosis (eg, disorders in the schizophrenia spectrum or psychosis in mood and other psychiatric disorders) and at any stage of illness (eg, high-risk, first-episode, chronic, and in recovery). We are especially interested in high-quality manuscripts describing well-designed and well-conducted studies relating to pharmacologic, somatic, psychosocial, cognitive, and complementary therapies. While basic and translational research studies in psychosis are not the focus of the journal, we strongly welcome studies that incorporate biological measures as a clinical outcome and/or that elucidate biological mechanisms associated with specific clinical outcomes.

Focus on Suicide

The objective of the Focus on Suicide section, edited by Philippe Courtet, MD, is to promote scientific research into the causes and prevention of suicide. Identification of risk and protective factors related to suicidal behavior, diagnosis of at-risk persons, evidence-based intervention research, treatment and practice strategies, interdisciplinary approaches, brain imaging and genomic studies are all of interest. Authors are invited to submit high-quality research and scholarly reviews on all aspects of suicide that will contribute to the overall decrease in the global burden of suicide.

Focus on Women’s Mental Health

The objective of the Focus on Women’s Mental Health section, edited by Marlene P. Freeman, MD, is to recognize and address the need for gender-based research. Authors are invited to submit well-designed, well-conducted studies of epidemiologic, biological, psychosocial, economic, and health services aspects of women’s mental health issues. Topics of interest include all aspects of mental health issues pertinent to the female reproductive lifespan, disorders that disproportionately affect women, and inquiries into how gender impacts the course and treatment of disorders that affect the sexes equally.

Submit Your Manuscript

AUTHOR FAQs

How long will it take for my article to be published? The turnaround time from acceptance to publication is 3–5 months. Articles are edited on the basis of their accepted date and then published online soon after production is complete and author approval received.

Will I get a copy of my article? The corresponding author will be notified when the article has been published online and will receive a complimentary PDF.

Who decides what articles are printed? Every accepted manuscript will be published online, be indexed at PubMed, and appear on the issue’s Table of Contents. The 30%–50% of articles appearing in the print journal are chosen at the discretion of the Publisher and Editor in Chief. While their decisions are guided by a variety of factors, they are single-blinded to those that are Guaranteed Print in order to retain an unbiased selection of articles they believe will be of interest to our print readers.

Are publication fees required when submitting to JCP? JCP does not charge submission or publication fees.  However, charges are associated with some aspects of article processing. See the table of Article Processing Charges and the table of Article Access Options.

What if I have more questions? Contact the Publications Manager at [email protected].