A Message of Appreciation to the Community That Keeps Us on Mission: Thank You From the Editor

J Clin Psychiatry 2023;84(1):22ed14762

To cite: Freeman MP. Appreciation to the community that keeps us on mission: thank you from the editor. J Clin Psychiatry. 2023;84(1):22ed14762.
To share: https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.22ed14762

© 2023 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

I am privileged to serve as Editor in Chief of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. In this role, I have the opportunity to interact with a community to bring clinically relevant papers to press. I value the roles of authors, peer reviewers, members of the editorial board, and section editors in this process. Spanning junior and senior colleagues, there is a collective wisdom of experience and fresh perspectives.

In a new year, I would like to refer back to a quote I included in last year’s editorial. Dr Francis Collins, who retired from his leadership role at the National Institutes of Health, said that “Communicating our research is an important part of what all scientists are called upon to do. To be successful, a scientist needs to be aware of whether the information is actually getting across.”¹ With every paper that comes to JCP, we keep that perspective in mind. We are extremely mindful that  many of our readers bear the responsibility of patient care and education. Our readers are clinicians, clinical researchers, educators, and the public. We are here to effect change for the better, and we hope that the papers we publish have a tangible, substantial, expeditious impact.

I see our mission as the dissemination of clinically relevant, scientifically meaningful research, reviews, and commentaries that will inform health care providers to meet the needs of individuals with psychiatric disorders. By doing so, we hope to improve the quality of patients’ lives, that of their families, and more broadly their communities. We also have the charge to inform the clinical research community about what the public needs next.

For that to happen, it takes a community. We are grateful to investigators and authors who send their papers to JCP. We are indebted to the JCP Editorial Board and to our peer reviewers, who are crucial in the process of making certain that the best possible information is disseminated with our mission in mind. We are eager to see the next generation of peer reviewers receive mentorship in peer review and critical thinking. We are also critically aware that mentorship and peer review take expertise and time, and those who give in this way make tremendous contributions. Senior colleagues in the field give generously by reviewing papers with early career psychiatric health care providers and researchers.

We aim to reach a diverse readership. We strive to engage authors and reviewers of diverse backgrounds and ages; we aim to increase our inclusivity. We are grateful for the wisdom of senior colleagues and the dedication of junior colleagues to provide service and keep our field moving forward. We aspire for JCP to feel like a home for the community of health care providers, researchers, and educators so that, through their diligent work, the papers we put out will truly benefit those who are suffering from psychiatric disorders.

Many of us have become much better at communicating across distances. Collectively as a field, we are using telehealth and virtual platforms for meetings routinely. In a way, the scientific community feels easier to engage, yet at JCP we are aware that each of you have compelling demands for your time.

In this new year, I want to express my sincere gratitude for our peer reviewers, authors, and the incredible JCP team. We remain focused on getting across the science that will improve lives. We are excited about novel treatments and developments in health care, and we are determined to continue to present this information to our readership.

To our reviewers, on behalf of the JCP team, we thank you. Thank you for being part of this valuable process.

JCP peer reviewers can receive 3 CME AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for each review that meets the criteria. To learn about peer reviewing for JCP (and the opportunity to receive CME credit), please visit Information for Reviewers.

For more on the JCP community, academic writing, and peer reviewing, please see our Insights video series:

• Marlene P. Freeman, MD: Publishing in JCP
• Leslie Citrome, MD, MPH: Demystifying the Manuscript Submission Process
• Joseph F. Goldberg, MD: Applying a Diagnostic Approach to Peer Review

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