GENERAL POLICIES

The requirements stated below are in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. See “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” at icmje.org.

Prior Publication
Manuscripts are accepted for consideration by Focus: The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry with the understanding that they have not been published previously and are not being considered for publication elsewhere. Any form of publication other than an abstract of no more than 400 words constitutes prior publication.

Authorship
All persons designated as authors take public responsibility for the content. All authors warrant that they have reviewed and approved of the manuscript prior to submission.

Only those with key responsibility for the material in the article should be listed as authors; others contributing to the work should be recognized in an Acknowledgment.

USE OF AI-ASSISTED TECHNOLOGIES
The American Psychiatric Association has adopted the following policies regarding the use of generative artificial/augmented intelligence (AI) in any manuscript or book submitted for potential publication:

• If a generative AI tool was used at any stage in the creation of a submitted work, both the relevant text of the submitted work and the cover letter or email accompanying the submission must fully identify all details of the AI use (including the tool used and the relevant output)
• Submitted works may not include images produced with generative AI at this time
• Only human persons can be listed as authors of a work (i.e., no AI tool may be identified as author)
• Authors are responsible for all material contained within the submitted work, including any material first produced through the use of generative AI. This comprises responsibility for the accuracy of such material (i.e., confirming that it is not incorrect, incomplete or biased) and for ensuring that all relevant material includes appropriate attribution and does not constitute plagiarism
• Material produced through a generative AI tool may not be cited as a primary source

Disclosure of Financial Support
Disclosure of financial relationships is required at the time of submission. Financial support for the study must be disclosed, whether from governmental, nonprofit, or commercial sources. All authors must individually disclose all financial relationships with commercial interests, as well as those of spouse/partner, whether or not directly related to the subject of their paper. Such reporting must include all equity ownership, employment with a commercial interest, profit-sharing agreements, royalties, patents, and research or other grants from private industry or closely affiliated nonprofit funds. For income from pharmaceutical companies, the purpose must be specified, e.g., speakers’ bureau honoraria or other Continuing Medical Education (CME) activity, travel funds, advisory panel payments, or research grants. Reporting should encompass the previous 12 months. There may be other potential conflicts of interest. It is the author’s responsibility to disclose anything in addition to the above that might be construed as potentially affecting the reporting of the study. If an author has no interests to disclose, this must be explicitly stated and will be acknowledged in the article as “Dr. X reports no financial relationships with commercial interests.” A Disclosure of Conflict of Interest and Financial Support Form must be completed and signed by all authors.

The Editors will review all author statements of conflict of interest and financial support to determine if there is evidence of bias from these sources. Financial disclosure information for Focus authors will be published in the journal.

Patient Anonymity
Ethical and legal considerations require careful attention to the protection of a patient’s anonymity. Identifying information such as names, initials, hospital numbers, and dates should be disguised.

Informed Consent
Manuscripts and letters to the Editor that report the results of experimental investigation and interviews with human subjects must include a statement that written informed consent was obtained after the procedure(s) had been fully explained. In the case of children, authors are asked to include information about whether the child’s assent was obtained. If your submission does not contain written informed consent or Institutional Review Board approval, it will not be reviewed.

Case Reports
While recognizing the educational value of case reports, APA Publishing seeks to ensure what it publishes respects an individual’s privacy and protects personal health information. For case reports describing an individual, we ask at submission for confirmation that the individual has seen the version of the report, that the individual understands it is being submitted for publication consideration, and that the individual has been informed that if published, the report will be freely accessible to anyone 1 year after publication and thus confidentiality cannot be guaranteed despite all efforts to disguise personal details.

Statement of Human and Animal Rights
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Peer Review
All papers undergo blinded peer review by impartial experts to determine the originality, validity, and importance of content and conclusions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please consult our FAQs page here.

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AND SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Focus requires written transfer of copyright to the publisher. In addition, authors must obtain letters of permission from publishers for use of extensive quotations (more than 500 words) or figures that have been previously published or submitted elsewhere.

Please go to our online manuscript submission site to upload your paper. Inquiries about the process or other upcoming issues can be sent to [email protected].

TYPES OF ARTICLES

Reviews
These are comprehensive, scholarly articles that bring together existing knowledge on a clinical topic important to practicing general psychiatrists. A key (but not exclusive) objective is to review developments from the past 4 years and discuss how they integrate into the existing body of knowledge. Review articles, which are usually about 5,000 words, are usually solicited by the Editors, but unsolicited material will be considered. The following sections are suggested: Abstract (up to 250 words, non-structured), Definition, Epidemiology and Natural History, Biopsychosocial Underpinnings, Assessment and Differential Diagnosis, Treatment and Outcomes, Future Directions. Authors should also submit three multiple choice CME questions based on the content of the article.

Articles
The intention of this clinical synthesis section is to merge expert opinion with evidence-based review of current clinical practice, including diagnosis, treatment, and new developments. Articles, which are usually about 3,500 words, should be based on topics that fall within the ABPN recertification exam topic outline, which covers general psychiatry practice, and include an abstract (non-structured) of 150 words. Articles can include the following sections: Clinical Context, Treatment Strategies and Evidence, Questions and Controversy, and Recommendations. Authors should also submit three multiple choice CME questions based on the content of the article.

21st-Century Psychiatrist
Psychiatry and medicine are evolving rapidly. Keeping current with all of these changes can be challenging. There are not only advances in treatment and medical knowledge but also changes in regulatory requirements, systems of care, and models of care. The goal of this feature is to provide brief updates that help the busy practitioner know where to go and what to do to stay current and compliant in this ever-changing time. We are particularly interested in submissions describing the applications of emerging technology to diagnosis, treatment, and health economics. Submissions are limited to 2,400 words and 15 references.

The Applied Armamentarium
This feature is designed to present evidence to fill the gap between results derived from regulatory trials and treatment management as it occurs in the clinic. In pursuit of this goal, the section will publish the following types of articles:

• Small clinical trials reporting unique interventions in patient samples.
• Case series of challenging clinical scenarios that suggest a novel or effective application of psychopharmacology or somatic therapies.
• Electronic medical record evaluations of medication combinations or the effects of psychotropics on patients with complex medical status.
• Clinical applications of a biomedical testing procedure that assists in the selection or use of therapies.
• Highly compelling and convincing individual case reports (involving dechallenge and rechallenge testing) of benefits or unusual harms from an intervention.
• Commentaries offering an original perspective on an aspect of clinical psychopharmacology.

Submissions are limited to 3,000 words of main text, with no more than five displayed items (tables, figures), and should include an abstract of 150–200 words.

Ask the Expert
A clinical question is posed to which an expert in that area responds.

Ethics Commentary
Sound ethical decision making is essential to astute and compassionate clinical care. This column provides ethics commentary on topics in clinical psychiatry and through case examples offers clinical ethics questions and expert answers to sharpen decision-making skills and advance astute and compassionate clinical care in the field.

Communication Commentary
Caring for patients with psychiatric disorders requires careful listening, active engagement, and skillful communication. Yet, psychiatric practice raises a number of potential barriers to effective patient-centered communication. Meeting each individual patient’s needs requires expertise in effective communication skills in the evaluation and treatment of individuals with the full array of psychiatric and substance use disorders, and from disparate cultures, lifestyles, religions, and value systems. The Communication Commentary is designed to highlight potential communication dilemmas faced in the field and provide information and best practice, and, when available, evidence-based discussion to enhance lifelong learning of this essential skill.

MANUSCRIPT ORGANIZATION AND FORMAT

All parts of the manuscript, including quotations, references, and tables, must be double-spaced. A 12-point type font such as Times New Roman is preferred. All four margins must be 1.5 inches. The manuscript should be arranged in the following order, with each item beginning a new page: 1) title page, 2) abstract, 3) text, 4) references, and 5) tables and/or figures. All pages must be numbered.

STYLE SPECIFICATIONS

Title Page
Word count. The number of words in the manuscript (including abstract, text, references, tables, and figures) and the number of tables and figures should be noted in the upper right-hand corner of the title page. (To determine word equivalence for tables and figures, see Tables and Figures.)

Title. The title should be informative and within 120 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

Byline. Authors’ full first names (i.e., no initials) should be included with up to two academic degrees after each author’s name. Please also include departmental and institutional affiliations for all authors.

Previous presentation. If the paper has been presented at a meeting, give the name of the meeting, the location, and the inclusive dates.

Disclosures. As outlined in Disclosure of Competing Interests and Financial Support, all financial relationships with commercial interests for all authors must be disclosed, whether or not directly related to the subject of their paper. Such reporting must include all equity ownership, profit-sharing agreements, royalties, patents, and research or other grants from private industry or closely affiliated nonprofit funds. For income from pharmaceutical companies, the purpose must be specified, e.g., speakers bureau honoraria or other CME activity, travel funds, advisory panel payments, research grants. If an author has no interests to disclose, this must be explicitly stated and will be acknowledged in print as “Dr. X reports no financial relationships with commercial interests.”

Acknowledgments. Grant support should include the full name of the granting agency and grant number.

Abstract
Abstracts are sent to various archive and indexing services and aid in an article’s discoverability by providing more detailed information than would a simple listing of just title/author(s)/journal of publication. Abstracts of clinical review submissions should be unstructured and approximately 150 words. Abstracts of submissions containing original research should be structured and no more than 250 words with the following information, under the headings indicated: Objective—the primary purpose of the article; Method—data sources, subjects, design, measurements, data analysis; Results—key findings; and Conclusions—implications, future directions.

Text
Use the active voice and third person; headings and subheadings should be inserted at reasonable intervals. Footnotes to text may not be used.

Abbreviations. Spell out all abbreviations (other than those for units of measure) the first time they are used. Idiosyncratic abbreviations should not be used.

Drugs. Generic rather than trade names of drugs should be used.

References
References are numbered and listed by their order of appearance in text; the text citation is followed by the appropriate reference number in parentheses. Do not arrange the list alphabetically. References in tables and figures are numbered as though the tables and figures were part of the text.

Accuracy of citation is the author’s responsibility. References should conform exactly to the original spelling, accents, punctuation, etc. Authors should be sure that all references listed have been cited in text.

Type references in the style shown below. List the surnames and initials of the first three authors, followed by “et al:” Abbreviations of journal names should conform to the style used in the “NLM Catalog: Journals referenced in the NCBI Databases” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals); journals not indexed there should not be abbreviated.

Journal article

• Mahon K, Russo M, Perez-Rodriguez M, et al: The neurobiology of bipolar disorder: neuroimaging and genetics update. Focus 2015; 13:3–11
  
  

Book chapter

• Beahrs JO: The cultural impact of psychiatry: the question of regressive effects, in American Psychiatry After World War II: 1944–1994. Edited by Menninger RW, Nemiah JC. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 2000, pp 321–342
  
  

Report

• Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Pub no SMA-03-3832. Rockville, Md, Department of Health and Human Services, President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, 2003
  
  

Tables and Figures

Authors are encouraged to incorporate tables and figures within their articles.

Tables should be double-spaced, no wider than 120 characters wide (including spaces), and no longer than 70 lines. Values expressed in the same unit of measurement should read down, not across; when percentages are presented, the appropriate numbers must also be given.

Figures should represent data visually (depicting trends or patterns, for example) rather than numerically. Focus encourages the submission of high-quality original, noncolor figures (previously published figures are discouraged).

To facilitate peer review, upload any figures separately from the Main Document file containing the text and tables. Each figure file should be submitted as a black-and-white (noncolor), editable .tiff (text image file format) or .eps (encapsulated Postscript) file or the original Excel or PowerPoint file for each figure. If figures have been previously adapted from an earlier publication, the author must secure written permission from the copyright holder for use in Focus. The author must submit a copy of the permission release and credit lines if the manuscript is accepted for publication.

Format
Definitions of symbols appearing in the figure should be presented in a key within the figure, rather than in the title or footnotes.
Except for the key, avoid using internal type (e.g., placing statistical values within a graph).
Two-dimensional graphs should not be represented in three dimensions.

Content
Each complete figure (including caption and any explanatory footnotes) should be understandable without reference to the text. Only the most widely recognized abbreviations may be used in the figure image, caption, and any explanatory footnotes.

PROCESSING OF ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts are accepted with the understanding that the Editors and the editorial staff have the right to make revisions aimed at greater conciseness, clarity, and conformity with Focus style. Papers will be edited and sent to the corresponding author for corrections and answers to editorial queries. Authors who will be away from their offices for a long period or who change address should inform Focus staff.

REVIEWERS

Becoming a Reviewer
Individuals interested in reviewing for Focus should visit ScholarOne Manuscripts and create an account.

Abstracts of articles within a reviewer’s given area of expertise are sent via e-mail to the reviewer. Within 3 days, the reviewer is asked to indicate willingness to review and availability to perform the review within a 2-week time frame.

Competing Interests
Most competing interests, financial or otherwise, do not disqualify one from participating in the peer-review process, but the Journal requests that you indicate any conflict that you may have in reviewing any particular manuscript. You can also notify the Journal if you feel that you cannot review a manuscript because of a competing interest. This will not affect your reviewer status in any way.

Confidentiality
Manuscripts must be reviewed with due respect for authors’ confidentiality. In submitting their manuscripts for review, authors entrust the Journal with the results of their scientific work and creative effort, on which their reputation and career may depend. Authors’ rights may be violated by disclosure of the confidential details of the review of their manuscript. Reviewers should never copy, share, or discuss a manuscript under review or the data within with anyone without expressed written permission of the Journal’s Editor and the authors.

PERMISSION TO REPRINT

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Please complete and submit your permission request form via the web.

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There is usually a charge for such permission, except for nonprofit classroom or library reserve use by instructors and educational institutions or for authors who wish to reprint their own material.