All too quickly, the end of the 42nd year of IMHN’s publication approaches. This year has been notable for endless grappling with the mental health issues emanating from COVID, which commanded attention all year in our editorials, columns, and articles.
In this editorial, I celebrate good things! The journal experienced quite an increase in submissions, approaching 500 manuscripts as I write. Another positive development is an increase in the journal’s Impact Factor, which is now 1.835. According to the latest report from the publisher covering January to September, 331,431 full-text downloads have occurred this year.
I am proud of this journal’s continuing commitment to a peer review process of strong integrity, attributable to the dozens of scholars and clinicians who volunteer their time to IMHN. In this turbulent year, the integrity of peer review has become more important than ever, because of (1) malicious mischief by authors (as in the case of nonsense papers) (see Bartlett, Citation2021); (2) disruption of scientific data collection (as in the case of the teenager on TikToK) (see Letzter, Citation2021); and (3) publication of unsound research online without peer review (as in the case of early studies posted on preprint servers about COVID-19 treatments, but later withdrawn or retracted) (Anderson & Ledford, Citation2021; Saultz, Citation2021).
To maintain the fair and prompt review process of Issues in Mental Health Nursing, I am seeking new reviewers. Expanding the review panel is imperative as submissions increase and my replacement of retiring reviewers just cannot keep pace. I especially encourage European, Asian, and African psychiatric-mental health nurses and graduate students to volunteer to become reviewers. For many years, I have offered new reviewers the opportunity to be mentored by an experienced mentor, for at least their first one or two reviews. The novice prepares a draft review, but receives feedback and suggestions on the draft before finalizing and uploading the review in Manuscript Central. Many PhD students have profited from this mentoring. Many of those students continue to review for IMHN after graduating. Please share this invitation with clinicians, colleagues, and graduate students in your circle of influence. I am happy to answer any questions about mentored reviewing.
Psychiatric-mental health nurses will continue to face many challenges in 2022 from the sequelae of the COVID pandemic; displacement of populations due to famine, environmental disasters, and wars; and violent political upheavals. Please contribute to innovative solutions of these challenges by submitting manuscripts describing the good things you are doing, all over this troubled world. My New Year’s wish: May we move together toward greater equity, compassion, and peace.
References
- Anderson, L., & Ledford, C. (2021). Who’s guarding the gate? The reach of prereviewed emerging science and implications for family medicine education. Family Medicine, 53(8), 670–675. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2021.246112
- Bartlett, T. (2021, September 28). The mysterious case of the nonsense papers. Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-did-a-peer-reviewed-journal-publish-hundreds-of-nonsense-papers
- Letzter, R. (2021, September 24). A teenager on TikTok disrupted thousands of scientific studies with a single video. https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/24/22688278/tiktok-science-study-survey-prolific
- Saultz, J. (2021). Caveat lector. Family Medicine, 53(8), 665–667. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2021.354455