JAMA Psychiatry

About JAMA Psychiatry

JAMA Psychiatry: Journal Overview

JAMA Psychiatry is an international peer-reviewed journal published by the American Medical Association as part of the JAMA Network. It serves clinicians, scholars, and research scientists in psychiatry, mental health, behavioral science, and allied fields. Established in 1959 as the Archives of General Psychiatry — with roots in the 1919 Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry — and renamed in 2013, it is consistently ranked among the top three psychiatry journals worldwide (sources: jamanetwork.com For Authors page; Wikipedia "Archives of General Psychiatry," accessed October 2026).

The journal's official For Authors page lists a Journal Impact Factor of 18, the third highest ranking among psychiatry journals, with an acceptance rate of 7% (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026). The 2021 Journal Citation Reports recorded an impact factor of 25.911, ranking 3rd of 157 journals in Psychiatry (source: Wikipedia "Archives of General Psychiatry," accessed October 2026). The journal receives more than 12.7 million annual article views and downloads (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

As with all JAMA Network journals, there are no author fees: research articles become freely accessible online 12 months after publication, with developing-country access via the WHO HINARI program (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

History of JAMA Psychiatry

The journal's origins lie in the 1919 founding of the Archives of Neurology & Psychiatry, a combined title serving both disciplines. In 1959, the title divided into two independent journals — the Archives of Neurology and the Archives of General Psychiatry — as each field's literature outgrew a shared venue. The psychiatry title continued for more than five decades before becoming JAMA Psychiatry in 2013 under the JAMA Network rebranding (sources: jamanetwork.com For Authors page; Wikipedia "Archives of General Psychiatry," accessed October 2026).

The journal's editorial lineage includes several defining figures in American psychiatry. Roy R. Grinker Sr. led the journal from 1959 to 1969, followed by Daniel X. Freedman (1970–1993), Jack D. Barchas (1994–2001), Joseph T. Coyle (2001–2014) — the Eben S. Draper Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School — and Stephan Heckers of Vanderbilt University. The current editor in chief, Dost Öngür, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, leads the journal today (sources: jamanetwork.com editorial masthead via libproxy; Wikipedia, accessed October 2026).

Across these eras, the journal has published landmark work spanning biological psychiatry, psychopharmacology, psychiatric genetics, epidemiology, and psychotherapy research — mirroring the field's evolution from psychoanalytic dominance through the psychopharmacology revolution to today's neuroscience-driven paradigm (source: journal history, accessed October 2026).

Leadership and Editorial Team

The editor in chief is Dost Öngür, MD, PhD, affiliated with Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

The journal maintains a distinguished editorial board of leading figures in psychiatry and related sciences. Published mastheads have included associate editors and board members such as Shitij Kapur (London), Kenneth S. Kendler (Virginia), Ronald C. Kessler (Harvard), Naomi R. Wray (Queensland, Australia), Michael J. Owen (Cardiff), Judith L. Rapoport (NIMH), Charles F. Reynolds III (Pittsburgh), Alan F. Schatzberg (Stanford), and Myrna M. Weissman (Columbia) — reflecting the journal's international scope and its coverage from genetics and neuroscience to epidemiology and clinical trials (source: jamanetwork.com editorial masthead, accessed October 2026; flagged as via archived copy).

A complete, current listing of editors and the editorial board is published on the journal's Editors and Publishers page (source: jamanetwork.com, accessed October 2026).

Aims & Scope

The journal's mission is to publish original, state-of-the-art studies and commentaries of general interest to clinicians, scholars, and research scientists in psychiatry, mental health, behavioral science, and allied fields. It seeks to inform and educate its readers and to stimulate debate and further exploration into the nature, causes, treatment, and public-health importance of mental illness — and to promote equity and justice for those affected by mental illness and for society (sources: jamanetwork.com For Authors page; journal mission statement, accessed October 2026).

Coverage spans neuroscience, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, psychiatric epidemiology, psychiatric genetics, and public mental health. The journal publishes original research, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, clinical trials, and opinion pieces addressing current issues and advances in psychiatry (source: wikimd.org journal summary, accessed October 2026; flagged as secondary).

Editorial Process and Peer Review

JAMA Psychiatry is highly selective, with an official acceptance rate of 7%. The median time to first decision is 2 days for manuscripts decided without peer review and 28 days for those sent for review — among the fastest turnaround times in the JAMA Network (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

The journal is published online weekly, every Wednesday, and in 12 print/online issues a year, with all articles published online first (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026). Submissions undergo rigorous peer review by experts who evaluate validity, significance, and originality, under submission guidelines detailed in the Instructions for Authors (source: wikimd.org summary, accessed October 2026; flagged as secondary).

Impact & Metrics

The For Authors page lists a Journal Impact Factor of 18, third among psychiatry journals (source: jamanetwork.com, accessed October 2026). The 2021 Journal Citation Reports recorded 25.911, ranking 3rd of 157 in Psychiatry (source: Wikipedia, accessed October 2026). Aggregators report a CiteScore around 31.2, an H-index near 394, SJR 6.578 and SNIP 6.040 — approximate figures that should be verified against official releases (source: journalsinsights.com, accessed October 2026; flagged as secondary).

Readership is vast: more than 12.7 million annual article views and downloads (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts are submitted through the JAMA Network online portal via the For Authors page, which links to the Instructions for Authors, author reprints, permissions, and reviewer guidance (source: jamanetwork.com, accessed October 2026).

With a 7% acceptance rate, authors should ensure submissions represent original, state-of-the-art science of broad interest — from genetic mechanisms to psychotherapeutic intervention trials. The journal's historical editorial stance has favored high-impact articles covering the field broadly, and its equity mission means work addressing disparities in mental health care is especially aligned with editorial priorities (sources: jamanetwork.com; frohberg.de journal listing, accessed October 2026).

Article Types Published

JAMA Psychiatry publishes Original Investigations (including clinical trials and epidemiological studies), Reviews and meta-analyses, Opinion pieces and editorials on current issues, and Research Letters. Content spans the full arc of psychiatric science — from molecular and genetic mechanisms through clinical therapeutics to population mental health (sources: jamanetwork.com; wikimd.org, accessed October 2026).

Open Access, Fees & Access Model

The journal charges no author fees. All research articles become freely accessible online 12 months after publication, and developing-country institutions receive access through the WHO HINARI program (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

Coverage Areas in Depth

Neuroscience and genetics coverage includes neuroimaging, molecular psychiatry, and psychiatric genomics — areas where the journal has published field-defining work on the biological underpinnings of mental illness. Psychopharmacology spans novel therapeutics, from rapid-acting antidepressants to psychedelic-assisted therapies, alongside pharmacoepidemiology and treatment optimization (source: journal scope, accessed October 2026).

Psychotherapy and behavioral science research covers intervention trials and mechanisms of psychological treatments. Psychiatric epidemiology addresses the distribution and determinants of mental disorders in populations, while public and global mental health examines systems of care, access, and the societal burden of mental illness — all tied to the journal's equity mission (source: journal scope, accessed October 2026).

Child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and forensic and ethical dimensions of mental health care round out a portfolio that addresses mental illness across the lifespan and across settings (source: journal scope, accessed October 2026).

The Journal's Scientific Identity

JAMA Psychiatry occupies a distinctive position: it is simultaneously a venue for cutting-edge biological science and a forum for debate about the nature and social meaning of mental illness. Its mission explicitly couples scientific excellence with a commitment to equity and justice for people affected by mental illness — a dual identity reflected in content that ranges from genome-wide association studies to commentaries on stigma, access, and human rights (source: journal mission statement, accessed October 2026).

This breadth, combined with the JAMA Network's press outreach and the journal's 12.7-million-plus annual article views, gives published work unusual reach — from laboratory scientists and clinicians to journalists and policymakers shaping mental health systems (source: jamanetwork.com, accessed October 2026).

The Journal and the Evolution of Biological Psychiatry

JAMA Psychiatry's history mirrors the transformation of psychiatry itself. Founded in the era when psychoanalytic thinking dominated American psychiatry, the Archives of General Psychiatry published through the psychopharmacology revolution of the 1950s–1970s, the diagnostic standardization marked by the DSM-III in 1980, the "Decade of the Brain" in the 1990s, and the genomic and neuroimaging revolutions of the 2000s and 2010s (source: journal history, accessed October 2026).

Under editors such as Daniel X. Freedman (1970–1993) and Joseph T. Coyle (2001–2014) — the latter a neuroscientist holding Harvard's Eben S. Draper professorship — the journal became a primary venue for biological psychiatry, publishing influential work on neurotransmitter systems, the genetics of mental illness, and the neural circuitry of mood and psychotic disorders. This legacy continues under Dost Öngür, whose own background spans clinical psychiatry and neuroscience research (sources: jamanetwork.com masthead; Wikipedia, accessed October 2026).

Today the journal sits at the center of psychiatry's most dynamic frontiers: precision psychiatry and biomarkers, novel rapid-acting therapeutics, digital phenotyping, and the integration of social and biological determinants of mental health. Its ability to publish across this spectrum — from molecular mechanisms to population health — is central to its influence (source: journal scope, accessed October 2026).

Landmark Research Directions

Several research directions have defined the journal's recent identity. Psychiatric genetics and genomics — including genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder — have repeatedly appeared in its pages, often with editorial board members such as Kenneth Kendler and Naomi Wray themselves among the field's leaders (source: journal content, accessed October 2026).

Novel therapeutics represent another signature area: the journal has published pivotal work on rapid-acting antidepressants, neuromodulation techniques, and psychedelic-assisted therapies, alongside rigorous examination of established pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic treatments. Psychiatric epidemiology — led by figures such as Ronald Kessler on the editorial board — has produced landmark population studies of disorder prevalence, course, and treatment gaps (source: journal content, accessed October 2026).

The journal's lifespan perspective spans child and adolescent psychiatry (with board expertise such as Judith Rapoport's developmental work), adult disorders, and geriatric psychiatry — reflecting mental illness as a lifelong public-health challenge (source: journal scope, accessed October 2026).

Equity, Justice, and the Social Mission

What distinguishes JAMA Psychiatry's mission statement from those of many biomedical journals is its explicit social commitment: the journal seeks not only to advance science but to promote equity and justice for those affected by mental illness and for society (source: journal mission statement, accessed October 2026).

This commitment manifests in content addressing racial and ethnic disparities in diagnosis and treatment, the mental-health consequences of structural disadvantage, access barriers in low-resource settings, and the stigma that continues to shape the lives of people with mental illness. In a field where diagnostic biases and treatment inequities are well documented, the journal positions itself as a venue where such questions receive the same methodological rigor as biological investigation (source: journal mission, accessed October 2026).

The mission's call to "stimulate debate and further exploration into the nature, causes, treatment, and public health importance of mental illness" frames psychiatry as inherently interdisciplinary — requiring neuroscience and genetics, yes, but also epidemiology, health services research, ethics, and social science (source: journal mission statement, accessed October 2026).

Reading and Following the Journal

JAMA Psychiatry's weekly online publication rhythm means new research appears every Wednesday, with the monthly issue collecting the month's output. The journal's content is amplified through the JAMA Network's multimedia channels — including author interviews, podcasts, and visual abstracts — and its findings are routinely covered in general news media, extending their reach well beyond psychiatric specialists (source: jamanetwork.com, accessed October 2026).

For clinicians, the journal's reviews, meta-analyses, and opinion pieces offer efficient ways to stay current in a fast-moving field. For researchers, its original investigations set methodological benchmarks. And for policymakers and advocates, its epidemiological and health-services research provides the evidence base for mental-health system planning — fulfilling the mission's aspiration to address the public-health importance of mental illness (source: journal mission, accessed October 2026).

With more than 12.7 million annual article views and downloads, the journal's audience includes the full ecosystem of mental-health stakeholders: psychiatrists, psychologists, neuroscientists, epidemiologists, primary-care physicians, policymakers, and an engaged public (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

Advice for Prospective Authors

With 7% acceptance and a 2-day median desk-decision time, authors get rapid feedback — but should submit only their strongest, broadest-interest work. Studies should be original and state-of-the-art, with clear implications for understanding, treating, or preventing mental illness. Work addressing equity, disparities, and the public-health importance of mental illness aligns directly with the journal's stated mission. No author fees apply, though the 12-month free-access embargo should factor into funder-compliance planning (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page, accessed October 2026).

Key Facts

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is JAMA Psychiatry?

An international peer-reviewed journal from the American Medical Association for clinicians, scholars, and scientists in psychiatry, mental health, and behavioral science (source: jamanetwork.com).

2. When was it founded?

Its lineage begins in 1919; the psychiatry title dates to the 1959 split, and it became JAMA Psychiatry in 2013 (source: Wikipedia).

3. Who is the editor in chief?

Dost Öngür, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital (source: jamanetwork.com).

4. What is the impact factor?

18 per the For Authors page (third among psychiatry journals); 25.911 for 2021 per Journal Citation Reports (sources: jamanetwork.com; Wikipedia).

5. What is the acceptance rate?

7% (source: jamanetwork.com For Authors page).

6. Are there author fees?

No. Research articles become freely accessible 12 months after publication (source: jamanetwork.com).

7. How often is it published?

Online weekly every Wednesday; 12 print/online issues per year (source: jamanetwork.com).

8. How fast is review?

Median 2 days to first decision without peer review, 28 days with review (source: jamanetwork.com).

9. What are the ISSNs?

Print 2168-622X; online 2168-6238 (source: jamanetwork.com).

10. What topics does it cover?

Neuroscience, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, epidemiology, genetics, and public mental health (source: jamanetwork.com).

11. Who publishes it?

The American Medical Association, as part of the JAMA Network (source: jamanetwork.com).

12. What is its mission beyond publishing research?

To stimulate debate on the nature, causes, treatment, and public-health importance of mental illness, and to promote equity and justice for those affected (source: jamanetwork.com).

Profile compiled October 2026 from official JAMA Network pages and secondary sources noted above. Metrics and policies change over time; consult the journal's official website for current information.