The Tradition and Future of<i>JAMA Psychiatry</i>
Authors: Stephan Heckers
Journal: JAMA Psychiatry (2015)

This issue of JAMA Psychiatry marks the transition to a new editor in chief. Three outstanding psychiatrists edited the journal when it was known as Archives of General Psychiatry: Roy R. Grinker Sr, MD (1959-1969), Daniel X. Freedman, MD (1970-1993), and Jack D. Barchas, MD (1994-2001). For the last 13 years, Joseph T. Coyle, MD, continued this tradition masterfully through the electronic evolution of the journal and the transition to JAMA Psychiatry in January 2012. I thank Joe for his outstanding leadership and his mentorship, especially during my time with him as the associate editor of Archives of General Psychiatry (2003-2011). The new editorial office will include Dost Ongur (associate editor), Jennifer Blackford (managing editor), Ira Phillips (web editor), and Helena Chmura Kraemer (statistical editor). Twenty leading experts in psychiatric research will advise us as members of the editorial board. The landscapeofscientific journals is rapidlychanging.The majorprocesses includingmanuscript submission, review,and dissemination are now fully electronic. Content is published online first each week and republished in a formal issue released inprint andonlineonceamonth.Thishas reduced turnaroundtimes fromsubmissiontoacceptancetopublicationand hasmade informationquicklyaccessible.Mostofusdonotvisit libraries anymore;wenowbrowse journals on our computers and mobile devices. As part of The JAMA Network, we have access toa full arrayofmultispecialty journal content andelectronicplatformsandwewill use themtooptimally support authors and readers. JAMAPsychiatrypublishes cutting-edge research and seminal contributions to thepsychiatric literature. The Original Investigations will remain the core of the journal. We are receiving an ever-increasing number of submissions, now more than 1300 per year. We will add more reviews, meta-analyses, and opinion pieces that can shape our field. While we cover the full spectrum of psychiatric researchsubmittedbycolleaguesaroundtheworld, thereareseveral areas of particular interest. Epidemiological research has been a major strength and we will continue to publish the scholarly analysis of archival data sets. We will also focus on epidemiological studies that can shed light on the mechanisms of risk factors, such as traumaorenvironmental exposure.Epidemiological studydesigns cannowbemarriedwith the in-depth analysis of geneticsandneuroimaging toprovide trulymechanistic insights into pathogenesis. The increasingly complex genetic analysis of mental disorders is crucial for our understanding of disease mechanisms and the identification of treatment targets, ultimately leading to personalized psychiatry. We invite psychiatric geneticists to submit their best research to JAMA Psychiatry. Neuroimaging is now a widely available technology. Wewill especially be looking for longitudinal neuroimaging studies that provide unique insights into the neuralmechanisms of treatment response,diseasecourse, and outcome.Only thenwill neuroimaging become useful to clinicians in their clinical assessment of patients. Finally, we will emphasize treatment studies, particularly clinical trials of both pharmacological andnonpharmacological interventions.They remain the touchstone of scientific progress in psychiatry. I am excited about new opportunities for JAMA Psychiatry. We will discuss strategies for psychiatric research, translate scientificdiscoveries into clinical practice, andexplore the impact of psychiatry on society. While scientists are unraveling themysteries of thehumanmind, this newknowledgehas had limited impacton thecurrentpracticeand teachingofpsychiatry.Most of our diagnostic concepts havebeenwithus for 100 years and many of our treatments were discovered more than 50 years ago, often by serendipity. This lack of progress has led some to ask for radical changes in howwe studymental illness, including the creation of a neuroscience-based diagnostic system. JAMAPsychiatrywill provide a forum to explore the scientific structureof psychiatry byasking:what can we know and what should we do? To close the gap between psychiatric research and psychiatric practice, we need to teach neuroscience principles in the clinical setting. The core teaching of psychiatry (psychopathology, diagnostic formulation, and treatment planning) does not rely on even a basic concept of how the brain gives rise to the mind. Many good psychiatrists readily admit that they do not consider neuroscience a necessary knowledge base for their practice. We need to train a new generation of psychiatrists who are grounded in classical psychiatry but also eager to interpret brain scans, cognitive neuroscience experiments, genetic analyses, and epidemiological data sets. This will only work if wemake researchmore relevant in the clinical setting. For example, when a clinician assesses a patient for anxiety symptoms vs panic attacks, does it help to know about the roles of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis? Only when neuroscience models support clinical decision making will our research advance the clinical practice of psychiatry. JAMA Psychiatry will expand the Stephan Heckers, MD Opinion