Strategy of a successful journal launch: ADAA’s community-and-beyond approach

Last year, the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA) opens in new tab/window established its own journal with the goal of better serving its professional community as well as members of the public looking for research in this vital field.

Previously affiliated with another publisher’s journal, ADAA decided that establishing its own publication would help support its goals more effectively.

Unveiled at the Association’s annual meeting in April 2023, the Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders opens in new tab/window will be published four times a year, with eight issues in its inaugural year. The journal is overseen by Editor-in-Chief Stephen M Strakowski opens in new tab/window, MD, Professor and Vice Chair, Research, in the Department of Psychiatry at the Indiana University School of Medicine opens in new tab/window.

“Our mission is to improve education and research and ultimately to ensure optimal treatment is available to all individuals suffering from these very common conditions,” Dr Strakowski explained. “The broad scope of ADAA is reflected in the scope of our journal, to represent a true ‘bench-to-bedside-to-population’ health goal. We’re striving to be the highest impact journal, both in traditional metrics and in real-world effects on treatment advances.”

Choosing open access

Based on an open access business model, the Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders is tailored to meet ADAA’s goals. The journal is committed to covering a broad scope, not only for the Association’s professional members and multidisciplinary clinicians but also for the wider population. While open access is something of a niche approach in this specialty, it potentially enables ADAA and its journal to get information out more broadly than a specialized publication normally would.

“Publishing with an open access model enables us to give the public direct access to the research papers,” Dr Strakowski explained. “Typically, they can’t access most psychiatric journals. We recognize that paying for publication is a relatively new approach, but given our focus on a broad audience, we think it’s the right way to go, and with grant planning, (the cost) can easily be offset.”

One of ADAA’s primary aims, and therefore the journal’s, is to improve the care of people with depression and anxiety disorders, including traumatic illnesses and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), which are often under-represented in scholarly literature. The journal has a relatively unique focus, particularly on the anxiety disorder side, and includes a PTSD expert on the editorial team.

A positive response

In the short time since its launch, the journal has demonstrated impressive results.

"We’ve had a truly robust response from ADAA’s members,” Dr Strakowski said. “And so far, we’ve surpassed every metric that’s been set for us.”

More than 60 submissions have already been accepted for publication in just over a year, and more than 75,600 article downloads have occurred.

“Unlike a lot of startup journals,” Dr Strakowski said, “we've been able to be selective in what we publish while still surpassing our targets. I don't like rejecting papers, but the fact that we’re able to be selective this early on is a good sign. We’re very committed to publishing high-quality papers.”

The editorial team aims to turn papers around very quickly, publishing articles online while the team continues to edit them. “We try to get an initial editorial decision within four to six weeks of an author first submitting their article,” Dr Strakowski explained. “This is followed by two weeks for their revisions to be received, and a further week for the next editorial decision — usually accept or reject. And so far, we’ve done a good job of sticking to that timeline.”

The secrets of success

Several strategies have contributed to the journal’s success, with the key component being its strong ties to a large and well-established Association. The journal serves the ADAA’s aims and those of its members, while in turn the ADAA’s strong reputation has helped boost the journal’s credentials during its first months and continues to do so.

Another key part of the journal’s success is its early pricing strategy. For the first year, the journal waived the publication fee, and while it now charges an APC, the rates are competitive. What’s more, the journal continues to offer reduced rates to ADAA members as well as giving waivers for selected papers.

While the journal is not yet on PubMed, at least a third of its papers are already referenced there because any with an NIH funding mechanism are added by default. The ADAA has run several campaigns to highlight this availability to boost readership and ultimately submissions.

Also vital to the journal’s success is its experienced editorial board opens in new tab/window. Dr Strakowski is joined by Associate Editors Erika J Wolf opens in new tab/window, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and Prof Olusola Ajilore opens in new tab/window, MD, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine. The Associate Editors bring exceptional experience to the editorial process.

Working collaboratively

With several team members at the journal and the Association having a long history of working with Elsevier, it was the logical choice to publish the Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders.

Next steps

So, what’s next for the journal? And how can it maintain its momentum? A crucial next step for the publication is to become indexed on citation platforms like PubMed and Medline. Not only will this help to disseminate articles to a wider readership, but it will also help the editorial team maintain and build on its pipeline of high-quality submissions.

The team is also considering a series of special issues and what specific areas of interest might bring something unique to the field in the future.