Discovery, Debate and Dissemination

Abstract

In the brief period of time that I have been Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (ANZJP). I have already been asked several times “ What will the Journal publish? ” This is not an unreasonable question since it is ultimately an editorial responsibility to provide direction for the content of the Journal and more specifi cally, decide what to publish and when. However, at this stage, though clearly important, I have not addressed the question of content per se but will deal with this more comprehensively in a future editorial. Instead I have briefl y outlined a number of considerations pertaining to the Journal and articles that will be published in its pages. Discovery : Defi ning psychiatric disorders, identifying their causes and developing effective remedies are amongst the most pressing challenges facing researchers. However, because these endeavours have proven diffi cult, and thus far relatively little progress has been made, opportunities for making genuine psychiatric discoveries abound. In fact it is this possibility that makes research in psychiatry truly exciting. Gaining new insight, making the fi rst clinical observation, or identifying novel mechanisms of action are intrinsically unparalleled experiences, for researchers and clinicians alike. It is these types of discovery or at least aspects of these processes that the Journal will attempt to capture. Realistically, authors of articles describing breakthroughs and headline making advances are unlikely to target the ANZJP. Understandably journals such as the Lancet , Science and Nature will be deemed more suitable for such ‘ news ’ . But prior to the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle falling into place and the completed picture taking form, there are often many other