A new era of open access publishing in eating disorders.

Abstract

Authors: Stephen Touyz (corresponding author) [1]; Phillipa J Hay [2] Background We would like to welcome you to the first edition of the Journal of Eating Disorders. We are sure that the first questions you may wish to ask would be why a new journal of eating disorders and why an open access one? There can be no doubt that the field of eating disorders is experiencing a phase of major growth. We have strong international eating disorders organisations such as the Academy of Eating Disorders and the Eating Disorders Research Society and many national societies throughout the world. These societies not only provide local networks for their members but arrange annual conferences to ensure that important new developments in our field are rapidly disseminated. To meet the growing demand for the ever increasing research and reviews of developments in our field, the International Journal of Eating Disorders came into being in 1981. Under the excellent stewardship of the founding editor Craig Johnson and later Michael Strober the International Journal not only met the need for a home for publications in eating disorders but stimulated further interest that has exceeded every expectation. Despite the explosion of knowledge emanating out of years of high calibre research in eating disorders, there remain many gaps. Whilst there is now sufficient scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy for the treatment of bulimia nervosa [1], further research needs to be undertaken to refine existing treatments to make them even more potent and cost-effective. Furthermore we know that such treatment protocols do not work for all such patients and there is an urgent need to develop-new ones or adapt existing protocols for those unable to respond and test treatments for other eating disorders. We have made significant progress in treating adolescents who have been ill for less than 3.5 years and Maudsley family-based treatment has rapidly become the treatment of choice for adolescents and children with anorexia nervosa [2]. However, although the data from randomised controlled trials has produced encouraging findings there is still little to guide clinicians as to the best approach in adults. In addition, there is almost no evidence to inform clinicians as to how best to proceed with a patient who has a more severe and enduring form of anorexia nervosa [3, 4]. There are many important and exciting studies underway and the data emanating from these studies are likely to inform clinicians in our field for decades to come. New technologies such as functional MRI [5] and the burgeoning field of epigenetics [6] are also going to challenge our existing models of thinking about eating disorders and force us to reconceptualise aspects of what and how we deliver existing treatments. The digital revolution and the Internet in particular have provided opportunities that could only have been dreamt about only a few short years ago. The demands for collaborative research across not only countries but continents to deliver better research outcomes and the need for more rapid dissemination of outcomes cannot be overstated. The time has now arrived to harness these opportunities and the Journal of Eating Disorders is uniquely placed to facilitate rapid publication and dissemination of the results of these exciting developments. The way we communicate our scientific findings is undergoing a metamorphosis and science has to adapt to meet these challenges. We have undoubtedly ?crossed the Rubicon? and science as an open enterprise is now upon us [7]. The Netherlands has endorsed it and the Royal Society in the United Kingdom has become a leading advocate of open access publication. Pre-eminent research bodies such as the NIH [8] in the United States of America, the Wellcome Trust in the UK [9], and the National Medical Research Council in Australia have mandated that any research emanating out of their research grant funding has to be published either in an open access journal or one that will make the article available to all within a year. …