Academic Psychiatry is the premier peer-reviewed journal focused on psychiatric
education and professional development in academic psychiatry. The American Association
of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry, the American Association of Directors of
Psychiatric Residency Training, the Association for Academic Psychiatry, and the
Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry have joined
together to sponsor Academic Psychiatry, which is published bimonthly by
American Psychiatric Publishing Formerly the Journal of Psychiatric Education,
Academic Psychiatry is dedicated to the publication of work concerning educational
and professional development efforts by and for psychiatrists. Articles that address
teaching, research, administrative, clinical, organizational, and economic issues
relevant to the academic missions of departments of psychiatry are welcomed by the
journal. The Editors invite high-quality submissions that further knowledge in psychiatric
education, stimulate improvements in academic psychiatry, and foster professional
development of academic psychiatrists at every career stage.
Peer Review
Submissions are reviewed by experts to determine the originality, validity, and
importance to the field of their content and conclusions. Authors will be sent reviewer
comments that are judged to be useful to them. Academic Psychiatry has initiated
a rapid review procedure, and authors can expect to receive notification of the
Editor’s decision regarding their submission within three months of receipt
of the submission by the journal office. To foster rapid publication, any required
revisions are expected to be accomplished by the authors within an additional 1-month
period.
Manuscript Preparation Specifications
Manuscripts must be prepared according to the manuscript specifications of Academic
Psychiatry. (Please note that Academic Psychiatry does not publish
color figures.) All manuscripts will be edited for clarity, conciseness, and conformity
to Journal style. Empirical reports of data derived from studies with human participants
should briefly but explicitly describe in the methods section what ethical safeguards
were in place in the study, e.g., Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, confidentiality
protections, informed consent, conflict of interest disclosure.
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Articles
Original reports of empirical research or critical analyses of important topics
in psychiatric education or academic psychiatry may be submitted in one of the following
formats:
- Special Articles are overview articles that bring together important information
on a topic of general interest to academic psychiatrists. Authors who wish to write
a Special Article are advised to check with the Editor to ensure that a similar
work has not already been submitted or invited. Special Articles may not exceed
6,000 words (24 double-spaced pages), including any tables, figures, and appendices;
a structured abstract of no more than 300 words; and no more than 100 references.
Any tables, figures, and appendices should be included in the total word count.
A table or figure that fills one-half of a vertical manuscript page equals 150 words
of text; a table or figure that fills one-half of a horizontal page equals 300 words
of text; an appendix equals two-thirds of its actual word count.
- Original Articles may not exceed 3,500 words (14 double-spaced pages), including
any tables, figures, and appendices; a structured abstract of no more than 300 words;
and no more than 40 references. Any tables, figures, and appendices should be included
in the total word count. A table or figure that fills one-half of a vertical manuscript
page equals 150 words of text; a table or figure that fills one-half of a horizontal
page equals 300 words of text; an appendix equals two-thirds of its actual word
count. Original Articles may be conceptually or empirically oriented.
- Brief Reports may not exceed 1,750 words (7 double-spaced pages), 10 references,
2 tables or figures, and a structured abstract of no more than 150 words. Brief
Reports may be conceptually or empirically oriented.
The structured abstract should include information under the following headings:
Objective: the primary purpose of the article. Methods: subjects,
design, setting, interventions if any, measurements, data analysis; for review articles:
data sources, study selection, data extraction. Results: key findings. Conclusions:
potential implications, future directions. Authors should use the active voice and
third person.
Below the abstract, authors should provide, and identify as such, at least 2 keywords
that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article and that may be published
with the abstract. Terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index
Medicus should be used; if suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently
introduced terms, present terms may be used.
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Media Column
The Media Column of Academic Psychiatry is a regular feature. Year-round,
we seek original papers regarding the relationship between media and psychiatry.
Many of our previous papers have focused on media in psychiatric education, the
impact of media on mental health and illness, how mental illness and psychiatry
are portrayed in media, and how media may be used for public education, among other
topics. These papers are peer reviewed and are encouraged to be evidence-based,
educational, creative, innovative, or exploratory. They should be approximately
2,500 words, including references.
Educational Resource Column
The Educational Resource Column is intended for contributions to the Journal
of direct utility to the practicing medical educator. Material encompassing psychiatry
education at all levels (including medical students, residents, faculty, community
practitioners and leaders) will be considered. The specificity of the column results
from its direct utility and translation into daily educational practices. Thus the
articles in this column, being of a practical nature, might analyze, whether descriptively
or ethnographically, how a particular teaching practice was applied in a particular
setting. Examples of topics include the unexpected and subtle discoveries made during
the development of an innovative teaching method, repetitive attempts to reform
a curriculum, or the launching of a new course.
Submissions will be judged by their originality, clarity of presentation, use of
relevant references, length, importance or relevance to educators, and adequacy
of discussion and conclusions. Because these contributions are equivalent to case
reports, conclusions should be appropriately limited. Articles published in the
Educational Resource Column are peer reviewed through the online submission process
like all other articles in the Journal. The editorial process will take into
account that case reports in education tend to be naturalistic and relatively lacking
in empirical data and that they are valuable as qualitative and descriptive pieces.
Such articles might serve as precursors to more robust empirical studies. Priority
will be given to educational case reports in the following three categories.
- Innovative teaching approaches that apply a novel teaching concept, strategy, technology,
or material. The experience at perhaps only one institution could be analyzed, and
the report should not normally exceed the length of a Brief Report (1,750 words
maximum).
- New, though perhaps not innovative, teaching approaches reported from more than
one institution. These articles are analogous to a small case series. For instance,
courses that integrate psychiatry and neurology for first year medical students
might not be innovative but may not have been widely evaluated. The director of
such a course might co-author an article along with directors of at least two other
schools with similar courses, allowing multiple sites to compare and contrast their
experiences. These submissions will likely be longer than a Brief Report but should
not exceed 3,000 words.
- Systematically constructed reviews or annotated bibliographies on topics that directly
apply to the educator. These could include, for example, reviews of teaching materials
on a particular topic, such as evaluation forms, curricular outcomes or websites;
methods and outcomes for teaching on a particular topic; or methods of application
of a particular clinical skill. Articles should describe the analysis or application
of teaching materials as opposed to simply reproducing the teaching materials. One
exception to this rule would be the publication of a curricular outline for the
teaching of a particular psychiatric subspecialty when it is innovative or produced
by a national organization officially representing that subspecialty. Reviewers
find it helpful if teaching materials are sent electronically with the manuscript
for their viewing, but in general, teaching materials should not be embedded in
the article due to space limitations. The article may indicate how the reader may
obtain a copy of the teaching materials from the authors.
Authors are invited to contact the Editor if they want to discuss whether their
manuscript would be appropriate for the column.
Down to Earth Column
Part of the mission of our Journal is to provide a forum for work that furthers
knowledge in psychiatric education and stimulates improvements in academic psychiatry.
The "Down to Earth" column offers an opportunity to provide practical, useful knowledge
for our readers who are approaching the many tasks related to psychiatric education
and research. These pieces are meant to be user-friendly. As such, they often provide
"tips," utilize tables and figures, and summarize processes in a step-by-step fashion.
They do not follow the typical format of our more scholarly submissions. Rather,
they clearly and comprehensively outline or highlight topics that are of particular
salience to our readership.
Authors are invited to contact the Editor if they want to discuss whether their
manuscript would be appropriate for the column.
Commentary
Submissions for the Commentary section should be tightly reasoned opinion pieces
not exceeding 2,500 words (10 double-spaced pages) that address an important issue
in psychiatric education, professional development, or academic psychiatry more
broadly.
Other Communications
Brief letters not exceeding 1,000 words (4 double-spaced pages) will be considered
if they include the notation “for publication.” Editorials and pertinent notices
and official actions of the sponsoring organizations will also be published.
Submission Procedure
Academic Psychiatry uses an electronic manuscript submission and peer review
system called “Manuscript Central.” This system allows authors and peer reviewers
to upload and access information online, creating a virtually paperless process.
Authors upload an electronic file of their paper, peer reviewers read and respond
to papers online, and all communications regarding each paper, including letters
about interim and final decisions, occur via e-mail. To submit a manuscript for
consideration, go to
Manuscript Central and either create an account or use your existing account.
Then follow the instructions to upload your manuscript in the Author Center.
Because the journal’s peer review process is blind, please ensure that the title
page of the file you upload does not contain any author information. Check the acknowledgments
section and delete any author-identifying information. Do not use running heads
with author names.
The journal staff and the technicians at Manuscript Central have worked hard to
make the process as user-friendly as possible. Help information is available within
the site including links to a comprehensive question and answer database, a contact
e-mail address for online customer service, and technical support phone numbers
for national and international callers.
Manuscript Central is convenient and easy to use for editors, authors, and reviewers,
and it dramatically decreases the length of the peer review process.
For further information regarding the online submission process or the requirements
for submission to Academic Psychiatry,
contact the editorial office.
Copyright Transfer
Academic Psychiatry requires approval of manuscript submission by all authors
in addition to transfer of copyright. Upon acceptance of an article, the author(s)
will be required to assign copyright ownership in writing to Academic Psychiatry.
A copyright transfer form, which must be signed by all authors, is available here. Manuscripts will not be published until a completed
form has been received in the editorial office. It is the author’s responsibility
to obtain the approval of individuals before acknowledging their assistance on the
paper.
Public Access Policy
Broad access to the research literature and the rights of our authors are important
to American Psychiatric Publishing, the publisher ofAcademic Psychiatry.
Read our public access policy for guidelines on deposit mandates for
research funded by NIH and others and institutional repositories.
Reprints
& Permissions
Contact the Journal
Editorial Office
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