Gregory H. Payne, MBA
CPNP Technology Director
Since its inception 17 years ago, CPNP has grown from a small group of dedicated specialists to a robust organization boasting over 1,500 members. We have thrived because the growing number of psychiatric pharmacists continues to find that CPNP and educational providers address the needs of the psychiatric pharmacist specialist. CPNP has worked to fill the gap in networking opportunities and continuing education for the specialty. As we mature, we turn our attention to scholarly publication.
Although many members are well-published through existing journals, there has been a long-standing desire for CPNP to have its own journal. A CPNP journal would focus on content of interest to psychiatric pharmacists. A psychiatric pharmacist would no longer need to make manuscripts relevant to a more general readership to be accepted in a journal with broader focus. Instead, a CPNP journal would provide a reliable forum for communicating new ideas to peers in psychiatric pharmacotherapy.
In 2011, the CPNP Board of Directors approved the creation of the Mental Health Clinician (MHC) Editorial Board to test the waters and gauge the interest both of potential authors and of likely readers. Although early issues only went through editorial board peer review, the young publication received a warm welcome. Now, after nearly 3 years of consistent growth (see figure 1), the MHC experiences over 10,000 views (articles read) each month, and it drives about 40% of visitors to cpnp.org. This exciting response has motivated the Editorial Board to rapidly increase its standards and implement processes representative of a much larger and more established clinical practice journal.
Figure 1. Growth of MHC readership trends steadily upwards
With clear evidence that the MHC has the enthusiastic support of editors, authors, peer reviewers, readers, and even outside organizations that have reprinted articles, the CPNP Board of Directors voted to invest heavily in this effort by establishing a co-publishing partnership with Allen Press. Allen Press is a well-known scholarly publishing company based in Lawrence, Kansas. By leveraging their technology infrastructure and experience staff, the MHC will be able to implement many best practices in a matter of months rather than years. Starting with the January 2015 issue, all MHC manuscripts:
We are no longer testing the waters – we are diving in head first.
Dedicated volunteers and staff will spend hundreds of hours on the transition this year, and many more people will help to sustain the publication well into the future. Together, we will improve our visibility by establishing the Mental Health Clinician as a respected peer-reviewed journal. Together, our voice can be heard.