Schizophrenia

The Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) is pleased to announce Prof. Robin Emsley as the new Editor for Schizophrenia (formerly npj Schizophrenia), effective April 2022. Prof. Emsley will bring extensive scientific and editorial experience to the official journal of the SIRS. He will follow the successful tenure of Dr. James H. Meador-Woodruff, who served as Editor-in-Chief of Schizophrenia since the inception of the journal in 2015. For April-June Prof. Emsley will serve in a transition period to allow shadowing of Dr. Meador-Woodruff.

A Search Committee, led by the SIRS Executive Officers and four invited SIRS Members, was instituted in early 2022 and completed their work and recommendation to the SIRS Board in March. The Committee had many exceptional applications and chose to recommend Prof. Emsley with the support of the journal’s publisher, Springer Nature. Prof. Robin Emsley was announced as the new Editor at the SIRS Business Meeting on Thursday, 7 April in Florence, Italy at the SIRS 2022 Congress.

Robin Emsley is a Professor in Psychiatry in Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. He holds the Sarah Turoff Endowed Chair in Schizophrenia Research. He obtained his medical degree and his psychiatry degree in South Africa but from two different universities. He holds a Doctorate in Medicine and Doctor of Science degrees for studies in the psychopathology, neurobiology, and psychopharmacology of schizophrenia. He plans to establish Schizophrenia as the leading schizophrenia journal and become the journal of choice for researchers in the field.

The Society is excited to welcome Prof. Emsley in the position to build on the work of Dr. Meador-Woodruff. The Society thanks Dr. Meador-Woodruff for leading the journal since its inception and for his commitment to publishing outstanding research from members of our society.

The Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) is pleased to announce that the SIRS official partner journal, NPJ Schizophrenia, has changed its title to Schizophrenia. This change better represents the journal’s development and management structure, and one that joins a series of new and improved processes we will be rolling out in the year ahead, aimed at making the journal as well-positioned as possible and as author-centric as we can be. You will see a series of slight brand updates and news about this update on the SIRS and journal website and other platforms. Schizophrenia is a high-quality Springer Nature journal published in partnership with SIRS.

You may recall from this past spring that SIRS leadership decided to temporarily delay the open search for the journal Editor after being notified of the structural changes with our journal management. Now that the new journal management structure is in place, SIRS will reopen our open search in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned for this announcement.

Schizophrenia is an open access, online-only journal that aims to publish high-quality original papers and review articles relevant to all aspects of schizophrenia and psychosis, from molecular and basic research through environmental or social research, to translational and treatment-related topics. Schizophrenia publishes papers on the broad psychosis spectrum including affective psychosis, bipolar disorder, the at-risk mental state, psychotic symptoms, and overlap between psychotic and other disorders.

Visit the journal website to explore all content available by clicking here.

The Schizophrenia International Research Society's (SIRS) partner journal, npj Schizophrenia, received its first Impact Factor on Tuesday, 29 June. The first Impact factor is 4.304. The journal has a ranking of 34 of 155 in psychiatry journals. npj Schizophrenia is part of the Nature Partner Journals series and is published by Springer Nature in partnership with SIRS.

npj Schizophrenia Editor-in-Chief, James H. Meador-Woodruff, stated, "It is exciting for our society journal, npj Schizophrenia, to have just received its first impact factor of 4.304. It takes several years from the time a journal is started to accumulate a critical mass of publications and subsequent citations to be included in indexing services, and then a few more years to get to this point of a first official impact factor. It has been a team effort by many to reach this milestone, and my sincere thanks to our editorial board and exceptional team of associate editors, as well as our publishing partners at Springer Nature. But most important, the journal would not have been successful without the support of many of the members of SIRS who have submitted manuscripts to a new and untested journal, and even more members who have provided expert peer review. A big “thank you” to all of you that have been part of this journey so far. Now that we have achieved this recognition and visibility, I hope that all of you will consider npj Schizophrenia as a journal in which to publish. Publishing outstanding research from members of our society will be important as we take this journal to the next level."