With this editorial, some major changes will take place in the Revista de Psiquiatria y Salud Mental (October 2008-December 2022). Starting in August 2023, the journal will change its name: the new official name will be Spanish Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health, omitting any subtitle in Spanish. This change in the official name is part of our long-standing aspiration to achieve a greater degree of internationalization and to consolidate the Journal's identity and recognition in the scientific community. Remarkably, this transcendent change coincides with the achievement of the highest impact factor of the Revista de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental (Clarivate 2022) in its 15 years of existence: 9.2; decile 1 in the field of psychiatry (SCI). We are very satisfied and proud of what has been achieved by the Revista de Psiquiatria y Salud Mental, but at the same time it is necessary to envision the path that we must build towards our future.
As soon as I took on the role of the Journal's editor in November 2020, a new name was something that I proposed as a necessary step to advance our interest in building a more scientifically solid and recognized journal in the unique, increasingly demanding world of science, and thus contribute to the academic and scientific growth of Spanish psychiatry. In recent years, many discussions have been held about whether the new name would boost the Journal's international competitiveness. From a personal point of view, the choice has not been easy, and the name change was a decision considered and agreed upon by the members of the Journal's current editorial board. This new name, Spanish Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health, was also consulted with and approved by members of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health. This unanimous support for the name change reflects the self-evident acceptance by the Society members of the need to undertake a new and ambitious mission for the Journal, overcoming the stagnation of nostalgia or fear of failing in our goal of internationalization. At the same time, we must be able to give continuity to the history of the Journal, which in 2022 successfully ranked among the best in the field, nor should we forget the essence of its creation: to be the venue for disseminating the scientific innovation of Spanish psychiatry and to promote a sense of belonging among the new generations of mental health professionals in our country. This name change aims to continue contributing to increasing scientific knowledge and improving the skills of professionals, to the ultimate benefit of patients.
Associated with this change in the name of the Journal, a new article management model will be launched, which will make it possible to have an editorial platform exclusively in English. This will be a more modern, user-friendly platform for authors, resulting in a faster, more streamlined evaluation of manuscripts, and will improve communication between authors and the editorial board, thus providing maximum satisfaction for all and the highest scientific level for the authors' published articles. Moreover, the Spanish Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health will include new journal sections (e.g., “From Cajal's Desk”) and special issues, incorporating clinical neuroscience articles and enabling open access to outstanding articles in each issue.
The world of scientific publishing is changing even more today than it was a decade ago; this requires constant updating and answers to increasingly competitive scientific fields. This reality should lead us to make strategic decisions in line with the current situation—, which I assume cannot always be favorably accepted by everyone, especially when they concern journals with a history and reputation in the Spanish-speaking world as illustrious as that of the Revista de Psiquiatria y Salud Mental. However, my current vision of the scientific publishing world and the reality of Spanish psychiatry convinced me that it was time to make this structural decision, and that in the coming years we will see an increase in the Journal's competitiveness and internationalization. This will, contribute more decisively to global knowledge and the academic consolidation of Spanish psychiatry, and thus provide more decisive solutions to the scientific and social needs of the twenty-first century.