| Psychiatric Services is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary
journal published monthly by the American Psychiatric Association. The
journal provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of psychiatric
care, treatment, and service delivery. It has a strong clinical focus
but also offers in-depth coverage of administrative, legal, economic,
and public policy issues.
The journal gives priority to material that is clearly
applicable in everyday clinical and administrative practice or in public
policy development. Wherever appropriate, practical implications should
be emphasized in such a way that they lend themselves to a highlighted
presentation (such as a list or table) when the article is published.
Abstracts should be clear, concise, and readable and able to stand on
their own as a description of the article.
To enhance readability, authors should use a minimum
of jargon and abbreviations. They should use active voice, first person,
and short sentences whenever possible. Language should be gender-neutral.
Submission
of Manuscripts 
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Psychiatric Services reviews material for publication on condition
that it has not been previously published, including electronic publication,
and is not being reviewed for publication elsewhere.
For peer review, all material except
tables must be double-spaced, with all margins a minimum of 1.5 inches.
All pages should be numbered.
Authors must protect patient anonymity
and disguise identifying information.
The journal uses a Web-based manuscript
submission and tracking system called Manuscript
Central. To submit your paper, please visit Manuscript
Central and
either create an account or use your existing account. Then follow the
instructions to upload your manuscript. Because the journal’s peer
review process is blind, please ensure that the title page of the file
you upload does not contain any author information. Check the acknowledgments
section and delete any author-identifying information. Do not use running
heads with author names.
The tips below will help ensure problem-free submission.
Successfully Uploading Your Manuscript
- Check to see if you have an existing user account
on Manuscript Central. A user should have only one account, even
if he or she has multiple roles (as a previous author, as a reviewer
for any of the APA/APPI journals, as an editorial board member, or as
a deputy editor). Creating a second account when you already have one
will delay the submission and review process.
- Ensure that your manuscript conforms to the word
limitations described below. Unless the Editor’s permission
is obtained, longer manuscripts will be immediately rejected. For permission,
contact
the editorial office.
- Submission of literature reviews requires permission
from the Editor. For permission, contact
the editorial office.
- Upload only one file for review. The single
file should contain a title page, an abstract, text, and references.
An uploaded manuscript file without the first four elements may be rejected
immediately. Tables and figures should be uploaded as part of the Main
Body file. Avoid uploading figures or tables as separate files.
- Upload a blind copy. Omit authors’ names
and institutions from the title page and from running heads and acknowledgments.
Do not use a filename that contains an author’s name or a portion
of a name.
- Do not upload a PDF file or a WordPerfect file.
The types of files that may be uploaded are listed on the Manuscript
Central Web site. Authors who upload other types of files will be asked
to resubmit.
- Suggested reviewers must have e-mail addresses.
During the upload process, you will be asked for the names and e-mail
addresses of potential reviewers who can objectively review your paper.
An individual will be considered by the Editor only if an e-mail address
has been provided.
- Disclosure of study support and conflicts of interest.
Ensure that the title page lists funding sources and conflicts of interest
(see Disclosure
and Title Page sections
below).
- Check for a confirmation e-mail. Successful
submission will immediately generate an e-mail to you that will include
a unique manuscript number. If you do not receive an e-mail, return
to your author center and be sure that you clicked the final submit
button on screen 12. Use the help line number provided on the Web site
if you believe you have submitted correctly and have not received an
e-mail.
- Keep your user account up to date. To ensure
that you receive e-mailed communications about your paper, please update
your user account, especially if your e-mail address changes. Always
click the “Update Information” button to ensure that the
changes are saved.
ABSTRACT
All manuscripts should include a structured abstract after the title page
with the following information, under the headings indicated: Objective: the primary purpose of the article; Methods: data sources, subjects, design,
measurements, data analysis; Results: key findings; and Conclusions: implications,
future directions. For regular articles, the abstract should not exceed
250 words. For brief reports, the limit is 150 words.
AUTHORSHIP
Only principal researchers or writers should be identified as authors.
Persons listed as authors must have made a substantial contribution to
the paper (that is, to conception and design or data interpretation, and
to drafting, and to final approval) and must be able to take public responsibility
for it. By itself, data collection, institutional position, or supervision
of the research group does not justify authorship. Other contributors
can be named in the acknowledgments. Upon acceptance of the manuscript
all authors will be asked to certify authorship (for a copy of the Authorship/Disclosure/Copyright
form click here).
For each author, enter the primary current affiliation
(including specific title and department or agency). A second affiliation
may be entered if desired. If an author’s affiliation when he or
she did the work described is different from the current affiliation,
list it also. The current and former affiliations can be identified as
such when the accepted paper is being edited for publication.
COPYRIGHT
On acceptance of a manuscript, Psychiatric Services requires transfer
of copyright to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) so that the
rights of authors and the association can be protected from the consequences
of unauthorized use (for Authorship/Disclosure/Copyright form click here).
PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY
Broad access to the research literature and the rights of our authors
are important to American Psychiatric Publishing, the publisher of Psychiatric Services. Read our public
access policy for guidelines on deposit mandates for research funded
by NIH and others and institutional repositories.
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DISCLOSURE
OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST OR POTENTIAL CONFLICTS
Policies
Disclosure of financial support and conflicts of interest is required
for authors of regular articles, brief reports, columns, editorials, reviews,
and letters to the Editor. Conflicts of interest and potential conflicts
must be disclosed for the 12-month period preceding acceptance of the
manuscript (for examples of sources of bias see Considerations
for Disclosure below).
Financial support for the study is always
disclosed, whether from governmental, nonprofit, or commercial sources.
Grant and award numbers should be included if applicable. Nonfinancial
forms of support, such as provision of drugs or equipment, analytic support,
or other such assistance, must also be acknowledged.
Authors are responsible for informing
the editorial office of any additional financial support or conflicts
of interest that may arise prior to the date of publication of their paper.
Procedures for Disclosure
Upon submission. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility
to ensure that disclosures are made at the time of submission. Disclosures
should be made in a blinded paragraph on the title page of the
manuscript. (See Title
Page below.)
Upon acceptance. Upon acceptance
of a manuscript, all authors are required to complete the Authorship/Disclosure/Copyright
form (click here for form).
Part B1 of the form contains three statements on disclosure that each
author must certify. Part B2 of the form requires authors to detail all
potential sources of bias.
Publication of information.
Information disclosed will be reviewed by the Editor. Relevant information
will be published in the article. If there is evidence of bias in the
conduct of the study, there may be further review and the manuscript may
be rejected. Authors are encouraged to contact the Editor at any stage
in the manuscript review process if they believe that they have conflicts
of interest that require review.
Considerations for Disclosure
Conflicts of interest may be direct (e.g., when the study is funded by
a commercial entity) or indirect (e.g., when an author has served on an
advisory panel for the commercial entity). Reporting must include all
arrangements that may present an appearance of bias in the conduct of
the study, interpretation of data, and reporting of findings. Such reporting
includes, but is not limited to, institutional or corporate affiliations,
paid consultancies, research contracts, speakers’ honoraria, foundation
support, stock ownership or other equity interests, patent ownership,
royalties, funds for travel, and interests in patents, instruments, and
technologies. For income from pharmaceutical companies, the purpose must
be specified (e.g., research grant, speakers’ bureau honoraria,
etc.).
Psychiatric Services will not
make specific determinations as to whether a relationship requires disclosing.
If there is a question as to whether a relationship is relevant, disclosure
is the preferred course of action.
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CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRIES
Authors should be guided by the principles outlined in the American Psychiatric
Association’s “Position
Statement on the Publication of Findings from Clinical Trials.”
Research studies should be entered in a public trials registry as appropriate.
STUDY APPROVAL AND INFORMED CONSENT
Manuscripts that report the results of experimental investigation and
interviews with human subjects must include a statement that written informed
consent was obtained after the procedure(s) had been fully explained.
In the case of children, authors are asked to include information about
whether the child’s assent was obtained. If your submission does
not contain information about written informed consent and Institutional
Review Board approval, it will not be reviewed.
TEXT
The text should include four major sections after the introductory paragraphs:
methods, results, discussion, and conclusions. The last paragraph of the
introduction should state the purpose of the research. The methods section
should provide a comprehensive description of the sample (including data
on sex, age, and race/ethnicity), methods of recruitment, measurement
and evaluation techniques (including information about reliability as
appropriate), and data analysis (including the name of the statistical
package used). At the end of the section describing the sample, it should
be clearly stated that “After complete description of the study
to the participants, written informed consent was obtained.” The
issue of institutional review board approval should be addressed. Strengths
and weaknesses of the study should be presented in the discussion. (For
additional detail, see the
list
of guidelines for research reports
below.)
TYPES OF ARTICLES
When you submit the manuscript, you will be asked what type of article
it is and the word count (excluding abstract, references, and tables).
Regular Articles, Including Research
Reports
In general, articles should not exceed 3,000 words excluding abstract,
references, and tables, although some exceptions are made by the Editor.
Please do not submit articles of more than 3,000 words without first contacting
the Editor or Managing Editor at psjournal@psych.org.
In your e-mail, please explain why the paper should exceed the word limit.
Attach the abstract of the proposed submission or the paper itself.
Research reports must include a structured
abstract (maximum 250 words) with the following headings and information:
Objective, the study purpose or research question; Methods, including
study design, setting, subjects, intervention(s) if any, and main outcome
measure(s); Results, the main results of the study; and Conclusions directly
supported by the data. For articles not reporting research, include an
unstructured abstract of 100 to 150 words.
Research reports should follow these
guidelines:
- Use the standard format of an introductory
section followed by Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions.
The Conclusions section should be separate from the Discussion; all
conclusions should be related to the data presented.
- In the last paragraph of the introduction,
state the purpose of the research. (If the purpose is not stated as
a research question, it should be translatable into a research question.)
Also indicate the type of study design, such as experiment, survey,
or retrospective or prospective study.
- Include data on the sex, age, and
race of the study subjects.
- Include the dates the original data
were collected.
- Indicate whether informed consent
and institutional review board approval were obtained, or whether
the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki were followed.
- Preferably in the methods section,
describe the data analysis procedure concisely and in a manner understandable
by nonstatisticians.
- In the results section, including
tables, report only the findings related directly to the research
purpose or research question. Omit other data.
- Report numbers for all percentages
and SDs for all means.
- When reporting statistically significant
results, report test statistic values, degrees of freedom, and probability
level.
Psychiatric Services welcomes
submissions that examine new applications of established clinical or research
instruments with populations receiving or providing mental health services.
Basic psychometric work on the development of new scales should not be
submitted.
The journal considers publication of
randomized trials with negative findings if they are accompanied by analysis
with adequate statistical power and a discussion of what was learned from
the research.
Literature Reviews and Special Articles
Literature reviews and special articles generally are solicited by the
Editor and are 4,000 to 7,000 words plus no more than 100 references.
Reviews should focus on recent literature. Before submitting a review,
please consult the Editor at psjournal@psych.org.
In your e-mail, please provide a word count; count only the words in the
text, not in the abstract, references, or tables. Attach an abstract for
the paper if possible.
Literature reviews must include a structured abstract (maximum 250 words)
with the following headings and information: Objective, the primary purpose
of the review; Methods, the data sources searched, how studies were selected
or excluded, and (if applicable) how data were abstracted; and Results
and Conclusions, the main findings or conclusions from the review and
their applicability.
Brief Reports
Maximum length is 1,200 words, plus no more than ten references and one
table or figure. Include a structured abstract of 150 words maximum. When
reporting research in a brief report, follow the guidelines
for research reports, above.
Commentaries
Provocative commentaries of 425 words maximum are invited for Taking Issue.
Authors may also submit commentaries of 1,200 to 1,600 words and up to
ten references for the Open Forum section. Authors may be asked for source
material to support factual statements in opinion pieces.
Letters
Letters should not exceed 500 words with a maximum of three authors and
five references. a) Letters reporting results of a study should be uploaded
to Manuscript Central for peer review. b) Letters commenting on material
published in Psychiatric Services should be sent directly to the
Editor (contact information is available here).
They must be received within three months of publication of the article
to which they refer. Such letters are published at the discretion of the
Editor and will be sent to the author for possible reply.
Columns
Material for columns is solicited by the column editors. Authors of possible
submissions should contact
the column editor directly.
Book Reviews
Books to be considered for review should be sent to the book review editor,
Jeffrey L. Geller, M.D., M.P.H., Department of Psychiatry, University
of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, Massachusetts
01655 (e-mail: Jeffrey.Geller@UMassMed.edu). Potential reviewers should
contact Dr. Geller.
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Arranging
the Manuscript
TITLE PAGE
Psychiatric Services uses a double-blind review. When submitting
your paper online at Manuscript
Central, do not include author information on the title page (Main
Body file) or on any supporting files for peer review. (Author information
entered during the submission process is internally linked to the manuscript
and is not required in the manuscript itself.)
Title
The title should be informative about the content of the manuscript and
as brief as possible.
Acknowledgments
List all financial support received for the study in an Acknowledgments
section on the title page. For grants, include the grant number and the
full name of the granting agency. Because the journal uses a blind review
process, no author’s name or initials should be listed in this section.
(Names of principal investigators or awardees can be added when the manuscript
is being edited for publication.) Acknowledgment of individuals is limited
to those who contributed to the paper’s intellectual or technical
content. The journal discourages acknowledgment of anonymous groups (e.g.,
“staff of the mental health center,” “participants in
this study”). If the paper was presented at a meeting in the last
three years, give the meeting name, city and state, and full meeting dates.
Disclosures of Conflicts of Interest
As described above,
it is the corresponding author’s responsibility to disclose for
each author commercial or financial involvements within the past 12 months
that may present an appearance of bias. Upon submission of the manuscript,
such information is listed in a blinded paragraph on the title page formatted
as follows. Note that if there are no interests to disclose, that should
be stated:
“Disclosure of Interests:
Dr. XX: speaker’s honorarium [with name of company]; Dr. XX: stock
ownership [with name of company]. The remaining authors have no interests
to disclose.”
or
“Disclosures: None for any
author”
TABLES AND FIGURES
For regular articles, include no more than five tables. Include tables
only when they present relevant numerical data more clearly than could
be done in text; data in short tables often can be incorporated more concisely
in text. Authors will be asked to delete extraneous tables. Follow the
table formats used in recent issues of the journal. Specify all units
of measure clearly. Tables will be edited to conform to journal style.
Tables should appear at the end of the uploaded file. Do not submit them
in a separate file.
Figures are published only when they
contain essential information that cannot be adequately presented in text
or tables. Most figures without data, especially flow charts, are judged
nonessential. (Also see Supplemental
Data below.)
Figures accepted for publication must
be clear, uncluttered, and two-dimensional. Except for figures for Datapoints,
color should not be used. To facilitate peer review, upload the figure
as part of the Main Body file if possible. If more than one figure must
be uploaded separately, use a single file if possible.
Psychiatric Services discourages
the use of previously published tables or figures. Authors who use such
material must obtain written permission for reprinting from the copyright
owner and include it when they submit the paper.
Checklists and forms generally are not
published. A note that such material is available from the author may
be included in the paper. (Also see Supplemental
Data below.)
REFERENCES
Limit references to relevant published material cited in the text, including
all but widely known tests and scales. Complete literature reviews are
rarely necessary.
Only material that has been published,
accepted for publication, or presented at a major national meeting is
included in the reference list. Citations of material in press must include
journal or publisher name. (If unpublished material is cited, note the
source and year in parentheses in the text of the paper. Citation of unpublished
material should be kept to a minimum.)
Double-space all references. Arrange
and number them in order of appearance in text, not alphabetically. (Do
not use the name-and-date style of citation in the text.)
In the reference list, name all authors
and editors through the third; if there are more than three, list the
first three, followed by et al. Spell out journal names; do not underline
or use italic or boldface. Follow Psychiatric Services style for reference
punctuation.
Journal Articles
Include authors, title, full journal name, volume number, first and last
pages, and year.
Example:
Aleman A, Hijman R, de Haan EHF, et al: Memory impairment in schizophrenia:
a meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry 156:1358–1366,
1999
Books or Monographs
Include authors or editors, book title (not underlined), volume or edition
(for federal government publications, any series designation), city, publisher,
year, and, if pertinent, page numbers of the material cited.
Example:
Goldberg JF, Harrow M (eds): Bipolar Disorders: Clinical Course and
Outcome. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1999
Chapters in Books
Include chapter authors, chapter title, book title (not underlined), volume
or edition, book editors, city, publisher, and year.
Example:
Clark HW, Kanas N, Smith DE, et al: Substance-related disorders: alcohol
and drugs, in Review of General Psychiatry, 4th ed. Edited by Goldman
HH. Norwalk, Conn, Appleton & Lange, 1995
Legal Proceedings
Follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, by the Harvard
Law Review Association.
SUPPLEMENTAL DATA
Psychiatric Services now allows authors to submit supplemental
data to be posted online only in support of printed articles. To be accepted
for posting, supplemental material must be essential to the scientific
integrity and excellence of the manuscript. The material is subject to
the same editorial standards as the printed journal and will be submitted
for peer review. The Editor may select material submitted for publication
in the print version to be posted online only. For material posted online,
a sentence is added to the text referring readers to the journal’s
Web site.
To facilitate review, please name the
files and cite them in the for-print manuscript as SuppT1 for tables,
SuppF1 for figures, SuppA1 for appendices, and so forth. Color is permitted
in all supplemental files.
Types of supplemental data include:
- Detailed tables that contain data
of use to other investigators. Data should be summarized in the text
of the print version.
- The CONSORT figure for clinical trials
is also appropriate for online publication only.
- Figures that illustrate data from
the study in alternative formats.
- Extended or annotated bibliographies.
- Appendices. Questionnaires, tests,
checklists, etc., should be submitted as supplemental data.
Supplemental data should be uploaded
in a separate file from the for-print manuscript. Please remember that
the larger the file size the longer it will take users to download. For
this reason, please limit your files to 10 MB. Only the following formats
can be accepted:
- Plain Text (.txt)
- HTML Page (.html)
- JPEG Image (.jpg)
- GIF Image (.gif)
- Adobe PDF (.pdf)
- Excel Spreadsheet (.xls)
- ZIP Compressed File (.zip)
- Word Document (.doc)
- Tiff Image (.tif)
- PowerPoint (.ppt)
- Encapsulated Postscript (.eps)
- Mp3 (.mp3)
- QuickTime Video
If your document type is not listed here,
please contact
the editorial office.
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Review Process
Manuscripts submitted for publication
(including invited papers) are sent for blind review to at least three
independent reviewers. Separate statistical review is obtained when a
reviewer requests it. The final decision is the Editor’s. Authors
are usually notified of a decision within three months, although some
delays are unavoidable.
REVISED MANUSCRIPTS
Authors may be asked whether they wish to make suggested revisions in
a paper and resubmit it. If substantial revisions are requested, the paper
will be sent again for outside review. Every effort will be made to expedite
such review.
Revised manuscripts must conform to
the general requirements listed above, including minimum 1.5-inch margins,
full double-spacing, and word count. They are submitted online via Manuscript
Central.
Processing of Manuscripts
Manuscripts (including
revised manuscripts) are accepted with the understanding that they will
be edited for clarity, elimination of redundancy, and conformity with
Psychiatric Services style. Generally, manuscripts are edited within three
to six months from the date of acceptance.
The corresponding author receives an
electronic file of the edited paper for approval before publication. He
or she will be asked to check the edited version carefully to make sure
the editing did not introduce any inaccuracies and to make any necessary
changes, answer editorial queries, and contact the editorial office by
a specified date. After the paper is typeset, galley proofs are sent electronically
to the author.
All authors of a paper receive two complimentary
copies of the issue, which are mailed to the corresponding author along
with a price list for ordering reprints.
Indexes and Databases
Psychiatric Services
is covered in Index Medicus, MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and
Allied Health Literature, Current Contents, Excerpta Medica, HealthSTAR,
Psychological Abstracts, PsycINFO, Social Science Citation Index, and
other indexes and databases. The journal is available online to subscribers
at ps.psychiatryonline.org.
The journal publishes an annual author index each December.
Reprints
& Permissions
Contact
the Journal Editorial Office
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Submission
of Manuscripts
