Editorial Board Changes for 2018

Members of the editorial board at the Schizophrenia Bulletin are substantially involved in the journal’s peer review process, in the organization of our theme issues, and other activities that advance the mission of the journal. This work is time-consuming, and in an effort to limit the burden imposed and to recognize exceptional service as an ad hoc referee, it is our policy to revisit Editorial Board membership every 4 years. A considerable number of changes to the editorial board will become effective with the issuance of Volume 44 (January 2018). We express our deep appreciation for the exceptional service provided by the members who are rotating off of the Board. Your work ensured the success of the Bulletin, including the difficult transition to a broader scientific mission than that defined by schizophrenia alone.

In selecting new members for the Editorial Board, we sought diversity in geographic location, gender, and areas of scientific expertise to further the expanded mission of the journal. We also sought out persons with a broader knowledge of disorders associated with psychotic psychopathology in recognition of the need for such with the addition of the subtitle “The Journal of Psychoses and Related Disorders.” Individuals with a strong record of completing ad hoc reviews and/or providing other services such as organizing themes and guest editing supplements were also identified. With over 700 submissions a year, there are far more reviewers supporting our mission than we can acknowledge with editorial board membership. We are very grateful for the tremendous interest and support from the field in all aspects of the Bulletin’s mission.

Working together with the new Editorial Board, expectations for 2018 include more reports related to deconstruction of clinical syndromes and psychopathology across diagnostic boundaries. We will continue to publish disorder-specific reports and expect this to include psychotic disorders outside the schizophrenia spectrum. As noted in a 2017 editorial,¹ we expect increasing emphasis to be placed on mechanism research and application of current statistical methods. This will hopefully include the challenge of verifying mechanisms discovered in animal models as relevant to human psychopathology. We have seen the field move aggressively to early detection and intervention at the first psychotic episode and clinical high risk/attenuated psychosis stages. We now hope to see reports linking genetic and environmental risk factors to detection of individuals at risk for psychosis prior to proceeding to a clinical case. Advancing science relevant to individual detection and intervention in the gestational and early life phases is a goal and its feasibility was recently suggested in a paper by Ross et al.²,³ Finally, we anticipate advances in detecting risk in adolescents prior to development of attenuated psychosis or other aspects of manifest psychopathology.

Together with our authors, readers, reviewers, assigned editors, and publishing partners at Oxford University Press, we look forward to a new year advancing knowledge related to the care and understanding of persons with severe mental illness.