WPA scientific publications in the triennium 2014-2017
Authors: Michelle B. Riba
Journal: World Psychiatry (2018)

It has been a very busy and productive triennium in terms of WPA scientific publications. The WPA Operational Committee on Scientific Publications was appointed in 2014 by WPA President D. Bhugra and has served to promote research and publishing capacity in WPA member countries with an emphasis on capacity building in the developing world1. Members of this hard working committee included: M.B. Riba, Chair (USA); D. Lecic Tosevski, Co-Chair (Serbia); R. Heun (UK), P. Tyrer (UK), P. Chandra (India), C. Szabo (South Africa), A. Cia (Argentina) and J.M. Castaldelli Maia (Brazil). We applaud the success and importance of World Psychiatry, the WPA official journal, which, as of July 2017, is ranked no. 1 in terms of impact factor among not only all psychiatric journals, but also among all the journals included in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) published by Thomson Reuters. Under the leadership of Editor M. Maj, the journal reaches more than 50,000 psychiatrists worldwide, and is published in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French and in partial translation in Romanian. In addition to a variety of scholarly papers, the journal regularly publishes news about the WPA initiatives2-6. The Operational Committee has organized a number of symposia at various WPA Congresses – Taipei, Taiwan, 2015; Tbilisi, Georgia, 2016; Cape Town, South Africa, 2016; and Berlin, Germany, 2017 – to assist early career psychiatrists develop as writers and scholars. At the Japanese Society for Psychiatry and Neurology Congress, held in Nagoya, Japan in June 2017, under the leadership of S. Kanba, T. Akiyama, R. Freedman, P. Wang and M.B. Riba, young psychiatrists were mentored regarding their research and publication opportunities. The Operational Committee has tried to improve and provide easier access to journals by linking the WPA website with open-access online journals from all over the world7. The links were proposed by national psychiatric associations. We appreciate the help of Secretary General R. Kallivayalil in this project8, 9. Under the direction and coordination of A. Cia, the Biblioteca Iberoamericana de Psiquiatria de la WPA has been an innovative project, approved and supported by the WPA Executive Committee. This library gathers psychiatry and mental health journals, and is published digitally in Spanish by participating countries and organizations, with free access for all interdisciplinary health team members that sign up through a simple procedure, covering 20 countries and expected to reach over 100,000 Spanish-speaking mental health professionals visiting the website. We have also enhanced the image and respect of the WPA and the field of psychiatry and mental health worldwide by publishing a large number of books, including a highly regarded WPA series on Integrating Psychiatry and Primary Care (Editors D. Bhugra and M.B. Riba), with books on Physician Mental Health and Well-being (Brower and Riba, 2017)10, Motherhood in the Face of Trauma (Muzik and Rosenblum, 2017)11, and Physical Exercise Interventions for Mental Health (Lam and Riba, 2016)12. We have appreciated the opportunity to serve under WPA President D. Bhugra and President Elect H. Herrman and to have had the support and collaboration of the WPA Executive Committee, WPA Member Societies, WPA Board, Past Presidents, Section and Committee chairs and all WPA members. Michelle B. Riba WPA Secretary for Scientific Publications 2014-2017