It is a pleasure to introduce the first of two special sections of papers on mental health services research by new investigators, researchers whose work has not been published extensively in the professional literature. The second group of papers will be published in a fall issue of Psychiatric Services.

The idea for these special sections arose at a meeting of the editorial board of Psychiatric Services, during a discussion about the future of mental health services research. Several new journals in the area of mental health services research and policy have recently emerged, yet the members of the editorial board felt that Psychiatric Services remains an important place for publication of scholarship in this field. Our readers want the best available information, and we want to maintain the supply of high-quality papers for them. Investing in the future seemed like a good idea, so the editorial board decided to encourage a number of new investigators to publish their empirical work in the journal.

The journal's editor, John A. Talbott, M.D., gave us the task of soliciting the papers. We asked Richard G. Frank, Ph.D, a distinguished mental health economist and professor in the department of health care policy at Harvard University to assist us with the editorial task.

We invite you to examine this month's section of five quite different papers by new investigators. Their content and disciplinary perspectives reflect the diversity of the field of mental health services research. We encourage your comments. We also invite other new investigators to consider submitting reports of their research to Psychiatric Services.

Dr. Goldman is with the Center for Mental Health Services Research of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Room 300, Medical School Teaching Faculty Building, 685 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. Dr. Shore is with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Both are members of the editorial board of Psychiatric Services.