“From the end spring new beginnings.” (Pliny the Elder 23–79 AD)
This year, whilst wishing everyone a Happy New Year, the emphasis on ‘New’ is especially fitting with respect to Acta Neuropsychiatrica. We have a new cover that reflects our interest in the neural underpinnings of neuropsychiatric disorders and signals several important changes that have been steadily implemented over the past 6 months. With a totally new advisory and editorial board along with new statistical advisors the journal has switched successfully to electronic submission and review of all manuscripts (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ACN). Our review time from submission to initial decision has been significantly reduced and is fast approaching our original target. In addition to decreasing this further we are also endeavouring to reduce the time from acceptance of an article to its publication and will no doubt be able to abbreviate this further once we have early online publication.
The journal also boasts of several new and perhaps unique sections such as Brain Bytesand Intervention Insights. Articles in these sections will offer up-to-date information on technological and therapeutic advances, respectively, and in this issue, Lagopoulos Reference Lagopoulos(1) lays the foundation for a series of articles that will delve into the mysterious world of neuroimaging. Berk in Intervention Insights Reference Berk(2) describes a paradigm shift that has occurred in recent years with respect to the timing of clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment of some psychiatric disorders namely, a move towards early intervention that is especially relevant to schizophrenia.
In addition, two new sections called Pictures & Prose Reference Aydemir and Malhi(3) and Statistically Speaking Reference Hadzi-Pavlovic(4) will hope to inform readers about historical and artistic aspects of neuropsychiatry and the use of statistical tests in modern-day research. The journal is also ‘new’ in that it now accepts correspondence from authors and readers in a section called Comment & Critique that will also occasionally include invited commentaries on topics of interest. In this issue there is also a case report Reference Prikryl, Skotakova, Kasparek, Ceskova, Kucerova and Ustohal(5) that has an associated commentary, and this new format that couples an invited comment from an expert in the field with the case report will be adopted where it enriches to the discussion of the case.
Finally, it is hoped that readers and future contributors will note that the journal intends to publish only high-quality reviews and cutting-edge research articles, suitable examples of which are to be found in this issue. Further, it is equally important to note that the journal despite evolving and becoming ‘newer’ will continue to respect its heritage and will maintain its traditional neuropsychiatry foundations. To this end I am grateful to Professor Povl Munk-Jørgensen for his erudite editorial Reference Munk-Jørgensen(6) addressing Scandinavian Contributions to Psychiatry and to Professor Perminder Sachdev for his positioning of neuropsychiatry in the 21st century Reference Sachdev(7).
