From the Editor-in-Chief

In the editorial to the previous issue of “Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology” [1], Senior Editor, Prof. Jacek Wciórka, gave us a perfect summary of the journal’s history to date. Taking over from such an esteemed predecessor, as the new Editor-in-Chief, I am fully aware of the responsibilities and challenges associated with this role. Today, looking back at our history, I am far from distancing myself from it, but even though I do take it as a roadmap and a source of commitment I am now looking into the future. The new times ahead of us call for changes in the formula of the journal and in our approach to editorial issues. Like the Senior Editor before me (who, to my joy, has promised to be actively involved in the work of the Editorial Office), I do not wish the pursuit of bibliometric success to become the main idea guiding these changes, especially given that the temptation to do so is strong. On the contrary, more than anything I expect the official journal of the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology to publish high-quality, widely read and quoted empirical papers, to give space to critical theoretical reflection and to continue as a source of practical knowledge for psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists and many others involved in the mental health system.
As you can see, these changes are already underway. The editorial team has been joined by professionals from outside the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, and we have plans to invite representatives of other international centers, which means that the Editorial Board will focus on the journal’s international character. Before long, the texts will be published in English only. We also hope that over time, the number of works submitted by international authors will increase. These changes clearly indicate that our ambition is to expand the scope of the journal’s impact, even though we will always find room for valuable texts of a local character which, due to their specificity, would find it hard to find their way to the approval of international journals’ editors. Once a year we will also publish a theme-based issue, devoted to matters of particular clinical or social relevance. With all this in mind, I wholeheartedly believe that with the great involvement of our editorial team, active support of the Editorial Board, the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology as the publisher of the journal along with the Institute’s scientific community, these plans have every chance of...


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