EDITOR’S NOTE

The Next Step Forward: A Move Toward Evidence, and Away From Fear of the Industry

By Michael E. Thase, MD

It is both an honor and a ch a llenge to assume the helm as editor of P sy ch o p h a rm ac o l o g y Bulletin. The hon o r, of course, is that a life l ong bibliophile and unabashed lover of the written word has the opport u n i ty to shape the future of a j o u rnal started 36 years ago under the auspices of the Na t i onal Institute of Mental H e a l t h . The ch a llenge is to foll ow in the footsteps of Charles B. Ne m e ro f f, M D, Ph D, who is cert a i n ly the most energetic, p ro b a b ly the most influential, and pos-s i b ly the most bri lliant psych o ph a rmacologist of our genera t i on . Despite being g i fted with size 13 fe e t , I do not hope to try to fill those Ne m e roffian footp ri n t s . I n s t e a d , let me begin by wishing Dr. Ne m e roff unpara lleled success as the new edit o r – i n – chief of Ne u ro p sy ch o p h a rm ac o l o gy, w h i ch is the official journal of the Am e ri can College of Ne u ro p s ych o ph a rm a c o l o gy. The B u l l e t i n is indeed fort u n a t e Dr. Ne m e roff has agreed to “s t i ck aro u n d” as editor emeritus and will continue to oversee its successful academic supplement seri e s . I wish to thank Charlie for his past efforts and even more so for his friendship and all he has taught me. I look f o rw a rd to at least seve ral more decades of ri v a l rous ca m a ra d e ri e .

When Dr. Nemeroff helped resuscitate the Bulletin from the limbo of “out of print” status in 2000, there were legitimate questions about whether our field needed another journal. Of course, in 2000 the Dow Jones average was slightly over 11,000 and at the time many of us thought security checks at the airport were an unnecessary bother. Things do change, sometimes in unforeseen ways. Dr. Nemeroff decided to narrow the focus of the Bulletin’s mission by concentrating on publication of up-to-the-moment review articles, basically conceived, written, and published within 6–9 months. This approach filled a niche within the literature and helped to reestablish the Bulletin after an 18-month hiatus. I am pleased to say this strategy will continue to be one of the areas of primary emphasis for the Bulletin.

As editor, my job is enabled greatly by the continued presence of an all-star cast of section editors including C. Lindsay DeVane, PharmD (Drug Disposition & Pharmacokinetics), Phil Ninan, MD (Case Histories), and Husseini Manji, MD (Translational Neuroscience). We are also pleased to announce that J. Douglas

Dr. Thase is professor of psychiatry and chief of adult academic psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, in Pennsylvania.

004-005_PB_Aut_EdNote 8/23/06 3:12 PM

Bremner, MD, at Emory University, will be taking over as editor of the Brain Imaging section beginning with the next issue. I encourage readers with ideas for potential review papers to contact either myself, the appropriate section editor, or our editorial office in New York City.

I do not simply wish to be a caretaker editor, however, resting complacently on Dr. Nemeroff ’s seminal work. Beginning with this issue, we will add a new section, Evidence Based Medicine, edited by K. Ranga Rama Krishnan, MB, ChB, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. We will also entertain s u b m i s s i on of manuscripts re p o rting original data, as well as to con t i n u e considering case reports describing novel treatment approaches or drug-drug interactions. We also plan to invite written debates, or point-counterpoint slugging matches, on important “hot topics” pertaining to the field of psychopharmacology.

A particular area of interest of mine is the incre a s i n g ly acri m on i o u s (and often sanctimonious) furor about the re l a t i onship between aca d e mic medicine and the ph a rm a c e u t i cal industry. Let me be up-front about my position : I am a libert a rian by nature and firm believer in person a l a c c o u n t a b i l i ty, f ree mark e t s , and limited re g u l a t o ry interfe re n c e . U n l i k e Thase the editors of some of medicine’s more prestigious journ a l s , h ow eve r, I do not plan to write editorials bro a dly condemning a pseudom on o l i t h i c ph a rm a c e u t i cal industry while the publisher’s business office coll e c t s m on ey for adve rtisements or academic supplements. Let me also be cl e a r about this little econ omic fact: the B u l l e t i n is a product of the publisher’s b u s i n e s s , and it must at least break even to stay afloat. This means that it is essential to maintain hon e s t , yet mu t u a lly beneficial re l a t i onships with the industry. M o re ove r, as “Big Ph a rm a” is re s p onsible for the deve l o pment and intro d u c t i on of virt u a lly all new psych o t ropic medica t i on s , i t seems an act of epic foolishness to try to impose some sort of hands-off re l a t i onship between our editorial board and the ph a rm a c e u t i cal industry. We will thus adhere to current suggested guidelines and re p o rt financial re l a t i onships of any sort that may constitute potential conflict of intere s t . As part of the self-policing function that helps a sch o l a rly com mu n i ty maintain its integri ty, we will also welcome letters and editorials that e x p ress opposing viewp o i n t s .

I would like to close with the happy news that the Bulletin is again included on the list of journals indexed in Index Medicus. We will strive via a rigorous yet open peer-review process to ensure that the B u l l e t i n maintains this cri t i cal imprimatur of exc e ll e n c e . T h e re is mu ch work to be done and, g i ven the immense personal suffe ring and staggering eco-n omic consequences of mental ill n e s s , no time to waste. D