Two New Boards for the Next Decade

Pharmacopsychiatry was founded in 1968 under the name of Pharmakopsychiatrie-Neuropsychopharmakologie by 6 eminent clinical and preclinical psychopharmacologists from Germany and Switzerland. 3 years later, it became the official organ of the AGNP (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmakopsychiatrie), the newly founded equivalent to the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology intended mainly for psychopharmacologists from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. In 1984, B. Müller-Oerlinghausen became Editor-in-Chief and 2 important changes were initiated. First, the name of the journal was changed to Pharmacopsychiatry, and second English became the sole language of the journal, even if English articles had already been accepted from the beginning. In 2003, I took over as Editor-in-Chief, continuing the work of my predecessor and increasingly opening up Pharmacopsychiatry to international science. As a consequence, about half of the articles published over the last few years originated from outside the three German-speaking countries and the Impact Factor has steadily increased to a stable 2.5 over the last several years. This was only possible due to the untiring help of all members of our Editorial and Advisory Boards, which is highly appreciated. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the many years of dedication and support given to the journal – without our faithful Editors and Advisors and their efforts, the journal would not be where it is now.

Recently however it has become quite obvious that major changes are needed to prepare Pharmacopsychiatry for the next decade. The planning took some time but it is now completed and so I am proud to introduce with issue 4/2010, many new members to our international Advisory Board. Their special expertise will guarantee the quality of our journal. But there are also changes on the technical side of things: The introduction of an online submission and peer review system will come later in the year, while efirst publication of accepted manuscripts has already been operational for several months.

Most importantly, I specifically welcome our new Editorial Board, with M. Bauer (Dresden) and M. Meyer-Lindenberg (Mannheim) for the fields of pharmacopsychiatry and biological psychiatry, C. Hiemke (Mainz) for pharmacokinetics and D. Riemann (Freiburg/Breisgau) for pharmacopsychology and sleep, and finally with me, who will mainly concentrate on experimental and clinical psychopharmacology. We are hoping that with the two new boards, Pharmacopsychiatry will receive even more manuscripts from all over the world. Editors and Advisors will do their best to maintain the high standard and reputation of Pharmacopsychiatry for the next decade.

Frankfurt/Main, June 2010
Professor Walter E. Müller
Editor-in-Chief

Correspondence