On a key mission to support academic engagement for trainee and early career psychiatrists: A scientific journal by trainees, for trainees

Academic publishing remains a critical determinant of career advancement in medicine, particularly for those in specialty training.¹ Publishing peer-reviewed papers has been shown to positively influence early career doctors, enhancing their understanding of topics and the publishing process, increasing motivation to study and publish further, and fostering interest in postgraduate careers within their fields of research.²

However, significant barriers persist for psychiatric trainees and early-career psychiatrists in accessing funded research opportunities and advanced academic mentoring.^3,4 Among these, article processing charges (APCs) for open-access publications may pose a notable difficulty for trainees in creating academic output. A recent review highlighted that high APCs may disproportionately impact junior academics – a group that needs publications for career advancement but often lacks financial resources to cover these fees.⁵

The International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees was founded to address these very challenges: A peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal that supports early-career authors by offering a platform to publish diverse article types, such as case reports, pilot studies, training evaluation projects, and more. Ideally, early-career researchers should receive adequate support from their institutions to cover APCs for academic publications. Unfortunately, this may not always be the case. The International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees therefore keeps its APCs affordable on a trainee’s salary, supporting academics who may need to rely on their own resources to advance their publication portfolios.

This second and final issue of 2024 showcases a selection of articles exemplifying the journal’s key mission: A professional reflection on the importance of international networking for early-career mental health researchers and featuring experiences from the 1^st CINP Research Fellowship for Early Careers,⁶ a case report examining the implications of complex trauma through a presentation of alternate identities,⁷ a narrative review of the care transition between Portuguese child and adult mental health services with two innovative examples for improved pathways,⁸ a pilot study testing the role of chatbots in inpatient psychiatric care,⁹ and a letter to the editor proposing a new transdiagnostic hypothesis to understand neuropsychiatric disorders by integrating existing models.¹⁰

Once again, the editorial team of the International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees strongly encourages all early career mental health professionals to ‘start from somewhere’ with publishing their work, and urges relevant stakeholders to support these efforts - to ultimately enhance psychiatric training and care for the benefit of both the professionals and the people they serve.