From Hochang Lee, MD, FACLP, editor-in-chief Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
…and What Lies Ahead in 2022
The year 2021 was an auspicious one for JACLP. Despite COVID-19 and the tumultuous tides of sociocultural change, JACLP had a great first year across its six bi-monthly issues.
The first year for JACLP also initiated several key changes: a new name, new cover, new editorial leadership, and a new ISSN. In our efforts to become more inclusive and international in scope, we welcomed editorial members from Italy, Japan, England, Canada, Denmark, and South Korea. Over the past year, authors from 45 countries submitted nearly 500 manuscripts that yielded roughly 100 published articles for the year.
Our editorial team has committed to publish articles that contribute to evidence-based C-L psychiatry while preserving our flagship journal’s strong emphasis on clinically relevant reports. Through the watchful eyes and expertise of more than 300 peer reviewers, we have strengthened the peer-review process. We await the journal’s first impact factor, which will be available in June 2023.
Building on the tradition of Psychosomatics in publishing case reports, we have diversified the opportunities available by now offering three categories: C-L Case Conference, Literature Review with Illustrative Case, and Letter to Editor: Brief Case Reports.
Under the leadership of Scott Beach, MD, FACLP, education section editor, we developed the C-L Case Conference as a forum for discussing common, informative C-L cases in depth with the assistance of experts and supplemented by literature review. As the first C-L Case Conference article demonstrated, our aim is to provide educational value both to practicing C-L psychiatrists and to trainees alike by going through the details of a case step by step with assistance from the senior clinical experts. The second category for case reports is for full-length reviews that open with a case illustrating the importance of the review.
The Literature Review with Illustrative Case section is an opportunity for those who encounter an interesting clinical question that leads them to perform a literature review and describe the state of the science on that topic. A strong example is the recent case series and literature review on COVID-19 and catatonia by Scheiner, et al.
Also, under the leadership of Nicholas Kontos, MD, FACLP, Case Report section editor, we developed the Letter to Editor: Brief Case Reports section for reports of unusual and rare C-L Psychiatry cases of educational interest like the report of post-vaccination body distress syndrome by Kuriyma.
We are also developing additional content-based sections in partnership with the Special Interest Groups of ACLP. The first of these, the Neuropsychiatry Section (section editor: Constantine Lyketsos, MD) will be launched early this year.
This year we also plan to launch the Early Career Section by partnering with the ACLP Webb Fellowship Program under the leadership of E. Sherwood Brown, MD, DFAPA, FACLP. By engaging early career investigators in C-L Psychiatry and introducing them to the JACLP editorial and peer-review process, the journal will provide valuable academic experience and career mentorship by senior editorial board members. JACLP looks forward to investing in junior members of the JACLP editorial team who offer fresh perspectives for our readers.
In 2022, we will begin highlighting original research articles through a new article type, Invited Commentary, which will provide meaningful context and explain the significance of important research. A recent editorial on two articles of telepsychiatry-based C-L Psychiatry services served as a forerunning example of this. Also coming in 2022 will be our journal’s first supplement for the Academy’s annual meeting. This supplemental issue will include the abstracts from our November conference and offer a means of formally disseminating the breadth of work presented at our Academy’s keynote event.
As our society continues to reckon with the many deep-rooted sociocultural and racial disparities, JACLP aspires to facilitate discussion on the topics of diversity and inclusion relevant to C-L Psychiatry. For example, evidence attests to persistent mental health care disparities in our community, but do we know how implicit bias might influence our practice in C-L Psychiatry? Is there evidence of systematic bias in terms of the quantity and quality of C-L Psychiatry services to Black, Indigenous, Person of Color (BIPOC) patients? Also, the lack of diversity in the mental health field presents a challenge for the BIPOC patients seeking care from culturally competent clinicians. How does our field of C-L Psychiatry fare in comparison to other specialty fields, and what can we do to improve our own diversity? These are just sampling of the kinds of questions JACLP hopes to examine. We will be drawing upon the wisdom and expertise of those in our Academy to guide our conversations and help lead to more equitable care.