The Journal's aim is to publish original scientific contributions in psychiatry, psychological medicine (including surgery and obstetrics), and related basic sciences (neurosciences, biological, psychological, and social sciences). Its scope includes any subspecialties of the above, eg. behavioural pharmacology, biological psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, mental handicap, forensic psychiatry, psychotherapies, psychiatry of old age, epidemiology, rehabilitation, psychometrics, substance misuse, sexual studies, linguistics, and the history, philosophy and economics of psychiatry.

The Journal will accept original papers, clinical case reports, brief research reports, review articles, perspective articles, historical papers, editorials, practice reviews (medical audits), letters to the editor and book reviews. Review articles are usually invited. Original data papers receive top priority for speedy publication. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.1 All case reports must have the patients consent before an article can be published.

The page following the title page should carry an Abstract followed by a list of three to 10 Key Words or short phrases drawn, if possible, from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus.

The Title, Key Words and Abstract should be chosen to help future literature searchers. The Abstract, up to 150 words for an unstructured or 250 words for the structured abstract,2 should state specifically the main purposes, procedures, findings and conclusions of the study, emphasising what is new or important. For original papers, brief research reports, medical audits and review articles, a structured abstract2 is required, using the headings Objectives, Methods, Results (Findings for review articles) and Conclusions.

Under the Abstract heading of Method, include wherever applicable the study design, setting, patients/participants (selection criteria, description), interventions, observational and analytical methods and main outcome measures. (For review articles specify the methods of literature search and selection). Under the Abstract heading of Results, give the most important specific data together with their statistical significance.

Timely references should highlight the study's relevance to current research or clinical practice. References to journal articles1-3 and to books4-6 illustrate the ‘Vancouver' style,1 with journal titles abbreviated as in Index Medicus. The Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals1 has two paragraphs on statistical guidelines. These have been explained by Bailar and Mosteller.3

Figures and graphs should be clear and of good quality, and should be accompanied by relevant data to facilitate redrawing where necessary. All materials sent for publication should be accompanied by a covering letter signed by all the authors, and such material will become the property of the Journal until, and if, publication is refused. Material so referred should not be sent elsewhere for publication. One copy of the manuscript should be retained by the author(s) for reference, and four copies of the manuscript and covering letter, one of these being the original, should be sent to:

Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine,

25 Adelaide Street, Dun Laoghaire,

Co Dublin, Ireland.

All submissions are welcome by email to psychological@medmedia.ie

All contributions are peer-reviewed by three anonymous assessors and, where relevant, by the deputy statistical editor whom authors may contact for help. Assessments will be sent to the corresponding author usually within six weeks. Where revisions are sought prior to publication, authors are advised to return their revision in quadruplicate, incorporating any suggestions which they agree would improve their paper. The covering letter should respond to each comment, numbered, of each assessor, indicating where the revision deals with it, or why the authors disagree or cannot incorporate it.

Each assessor will then receive the authors' revision, covering letter and the previous comments of the other assessors. After the assessors' further comments have been received, the senior editors will make the final decision, including priority and time of publication, and the right to style and if necessary shorten material for publication.

References

1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. BMJ 1991; 302: 338-41.

2. Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth EJ, Altman DG, Gardner MJ. More information abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med 1990; 113: 69-76.

3. Bailar JC, Mosteller F. Guidelines for statistical reporting in articles for medical journals. Ann Intern Med 1988 Feb; 108(2): 266-73.

4. Daly LE, Bourke GJ, McGilvray J. Interpretation and uses of medical statistics. 4th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1991: 428-31.

5. Gardner MJ, Altman DG, editors. Statistics with confidence – confidence intervals and statistical guidelines. London: British Medical Journal, 1989: 103-5. [Note: British Medical Journal here is the publisher of a book, not the journal BMJ.

6. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1987.