We would like to extend our appreciation to all those who gave so much to making Academic Psychiatry an indispensable companion for the psychiatric educator. Editors have to pretend that they are experts in so many areas as they communicate with authors. But, in fact, we are the worst sort of dilettante. Constantly we borrow others' expertise. The dialogue is not between editor and author; it is between author and reviewer. Editors are brokers, facilitators, if you prefer a more delicate term. At its best, the review process is a conversation among three parties: author, referee, and editor. It is a conversation about the state of our knowledge in some particular area of psychiatry or, in the case of this journal, psychiatric education. The editor is the least important part of that conversation. First in importance is the author(s), without whose risk-taking and initiative and venturing forth with new thoughts there can be no conversation. We feel a deep gratitude to our authors and hope that seeing their names in each issue, and in the annual index is sufficient expression of our appreciation.
The next most important part of that conversation is the referee, without whose expertise and willingness to volunteer time and energy the editor becomes like the emperor with no clothes. The gratitude expressed in our annual listing of reviewers is insufficient. We hope that it is an adequate beginning and that the greatest pleasure is, like that of the author, seeing good work achieve its rightful place in the lurching process we call scholarship.
We would also like to extend our thanks to the journals' staff at the American Psychiatric Press, Inc.: John McDuffie, Managing Editor; Elizabeth Stone, Assistant Editor; and Bessie Jones, Editorial Assistant. Also a special note of appreciation and gratitude to our colleague Dr. Laura Weiss Roberts, who continues to contribute her invaluable expertise and assistance with the peer-review and disposition systems of the journal. Thank you again for your time and commitment to Academic Psychiatry. Our best wishes to you for the coming year.
Samuel J. Keith, M.D., EditorPaul Mohl, M.D., Deputy Editor