75 Years . . . Another Milestone

75 Years . . . Another Milestone

This year, The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry is celebrating its 75th anniversary, an impressive achievement in today’s publishing environment.

Some of you have been loyal readers from the days when The Journal was titled Diseases of the Nervous System; others are just reading it for the first time. While decades may separate the age of those who turn to our pages, today, the content remains vital to clinicians and providers of health care to those who suffer from mental distress and disease.

75 years ago, there was a kinship between psychiatrists and neurologists. While the fields have diverged over the years, today, many in both specialties seek greater convergence.

75 years ago, our readers were just beginning to understand the biological impact of the diseases they treated. Today, our readers are exploring genetic markers.

75 years ago, the publication process was bound by print and physical mail. Today, our journal is both printed and shared electronically via the World Wide Web.

75 years ago, submissions were limited and our reviewers were few. Today, it takes hundreds of dedicated academics to provide the necessary peer review.

75 years ago, a page of print was easily constructed with glue and scissors. Today, layout requires sophisticated electronic programs and coding to facilitate indexing and searching on the web.

75 years ago, we were a journal with a handful of staff and board members. Today, we are a top-ten psychiatric resource and multifaceted educational provider through our CME Institute, with multiple boards and advisors, full-time editors, IT staff, programmers, and support personnel to provide evidence-based content and a website that attracts nearly 200,000 visitors each month.

75 years ago, publishing was a comparatively stagnant industry. Today, we’ re meeting the challenges of "disruptive innovation" by offering our readers mobile apps, multimedia, blogs, podcasts, social media sharing, hyperlinking, and, soon, article-level metrics.

75 years ago, copyrights were sacrosanct. Today, copyright is more often perceived as a barrier to bridge.

While it has taken a cast of hundreds to bring The Journal to where it is today, the real heroes in this success story are you, our readers and web visitors. Thus, I raise my pen for a celebratory toast and pledge to you that we will continue our 75-year commitment to be a vital part of your armamentarium, available 24/7 in print and online, to provide the essential clinical information you need to diagnose and treat your patients.

John S. Shelton, PhD

Publisher

© Copyright 2014 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

(doi:10.4088/JCP.14pn08994)