Changing to JAMA Psychiatry

As I indicated in my editorial¹ in the May issue, the Archives of General Psychiatry will benefit greatly by participating in the JAMA Network. The related editorial, signed by all the editors in the JAMA Network, emphasizes our commitment to an integrated approach to medical publishing and a strategy to exploit the power of the Web and cutting-edge search methods to render the vast trove of information on the JAMA Network easily accessible to all our readers. As I am a staunch believer that psychiatry is at the epicenter of medical science and practice, our participation in the JAMA Network will ensure greater visibility of psychiatry in general medicine and vice versa.

Joining the JAMA Network comes with a trade-off that may distress some of our loyal authors and readers: our journal's name is changing to JAMA Psychiatry. Clearly, the Archives of General Psychiatry has a very special meaning to the field. The Archives of General Psychiatry has a tradition of publishing the most influential articles in the field. For example, it has published nearly 40 articles cited more than a thousand times and more than 2000 articles cited at least a hundred times, many-fold more than the next highest psychiatric journal. Since its separation from the Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry in 1959, the Archives of General Psychiatry has had only 4 editors: Roy R. Grinker, Daniel X. Freedman, Jack Barchas, and myself. So, losing that “brand” identity and the history associated with it does hurt a bit.

On the other hand, for those not in the field of psychiatry, the term archives often connoted a compendium of musty old articles. And, what does “general” mean anyway?

It must be recalled that the American Medical Association agreed to have its press publish the Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry nearly a hundred years ago. That relationship has served our field very well. I believe that the creation of the JAMA Network and integration of psychiatry into the network will not only enhance our ability to attract and publish the most influential articles, but that it will make psychiatry a real presence in the broader aspects of medicine. So, starting in January 2013, we will be known asJAMA Psychiatry, and we will continue the tradition of excellence that has characterized this journal for nearly a century.

Correspondence: Dr Coyle, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 155 Mill St, Belmont, MA 02478 (joseph_coyle@hms.harvard.edu).