Where you start your academic journey – the International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees.

It is widely accepted that the experience of psychiatric assessment and care can be improved in many respects. It is through research that psychiatrists work towards that ‘improvement’. A better understanding of the problems faced by patients, and evidence of ways to help, are the crucial steps towards this goal. Yet the research methods needed for this process, which are in themselves skills for psychiatrists to learn, make up a small and variable part of psychiatry training programmes globally.^1,2

The International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees was in part built to offer trainees and early career psychiatrists (ECPs) a platform for their start in publishing to encourage academic engagement. With a robust peer-review process and what we hope is supportive editorial input, the International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees provides trainees with a comfortable flavour of academic publishing, be this a case report, literature review or quality improvement project.

This first of the International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees issues for 2025 highlights five such papers, which either report work conducted by trainees or ECPs, or focus on matters and initiatives relevant to psychiatric trainees.

Figueiredo and her colleagues narratively review current research on the association between physical touch of the newborn and developing attachment, pointing to the gaps within this literature which would be helpful to address to better understand any clinical applications of this association.³

Next, a case of sponge eating pica is described by Duarte & Duarte along with a review of the epidemiology and treatment strategies of this presentation.⁴

We are given an overview from Cortese et al. to remind us of the advances in teaching methods in child and adolescent psychiatry, and that “while planning a curriculum to meet the everchanging needs of our profession, trainees should take an active role in influencing the content and delivery methods of training”.⁵

We see an example of this in the fourth article in this issue. Becker and his colleagues describe the need for, and then the development and evaluation of an educational module for trainees on the assessment and treatment of substance misuse among young people with mental health disorders.⁶

Finally, Chumakov and colleagues from the European Psychiatric Association’s Early Career Psychiatrists’ Committee (ECPC) give us an overview of the opportunities for early career psychiatrists in Europe, including for research and support for professional development in a broad sense.⁷

Whether you are taking your first or one-hundredth step in psychiatric research, the International Journal of Psychiatric Trainees supports those publishing their projects, and is the international home for articles tackling key issues for psychiatric trainees and ECPs.