EDITORIAL
Global psychiatry: a LAMIC perspective
Shyamanta Das1, Bornali Das2, Mythili Hazarika3
1Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India, 2Psychiatric Social Worker, Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India, 3Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, Gauhati Medical College Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India
Abstract
This editorial highlights the nouveau approach of OJPAS® to promote psychiatry in low and middle income countries (LAMIC), with research contributions from a global consortium.
Keywords: Journal. Editor. Author.
Correspondence: Dr Shyamanta Das, MD, 10, CK Agarwalla Road, Ambari, Uzan Bazar, Guwahati-781001, Assam, India. dr.shyamantadas@gmail.com
Epub: 20 April 2017.
DOI: 10.5958/2394-2061.2017.00006.4
We strived to bring a nouveau OJPAS™… we realised that ‘nouveau’ necessitates change.[1] Hence, we have resumed in our endeavour as a team, and are working on changes toward that: a nouveau OJPAS®.
The Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences, in short OJPAS, got registered with Controller General of Patents Design & Trade Marks, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. As a result, OJPAS™ becomes OJPAS®.[2]
The journal has been registered under the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, 1987 and the Certificate of Registration from the Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), Government of India is issued with Registration Number (RN): ASSENG/2016/70661.[3,4]
The Editorial and Advisory Boards are restructured,[5] as well as About the Journal and Author Instructions are reformed.[6,7] We need to name the following six figures in this context, who are always there to support and contribute in what OJPAS® strives to be:
Dan Joseph Stein from South Africa, Ritwij Niketan Oodun from Mauritius, Ivana Stasevic Karlicic from Serbia, Leslie Marneau from France, Korina Hatzinikolaou from Greece, and Unaiza Niaz from Pakistan.
To the journal’s already existing scopes of: ‘tapping new ideas from young minds before being bogged down by conventional thinking’ and ‘understanding mental illness from the cultural viewpoint to formulate preventive and therapeutic approaches’, is now added: ‘promotion of psychiatry in low and middle income countries (LAMIC)’.[6]
The new logo of the journal is designed by our creative Editorial Assistant, Arunima Dutta (Figure 1). It is an ellipsoid earth with the image of brain in the middle, to signify ‘global psychiatry’. There are two semicircles on opposite sides, representing the LAMIC and the non-LAMIC. The shared blue colour of the semicircles symbolises what OJPAS® aims for: to bring them at par.[6]
Figure 1: Global psychiatry: a LAMIC perspective.
Let OJPAS® be the platform for contributors from both LAMIC and non-LAMIC: a true global consortium, to reduce the LAMIC—non-LAMIC gap as far as research related to translational science of mental health in this region is concerned. Such initiatives are on, in the forms of World Psychiatry,[8] Global Mental Health[9] and the like. But, they are mostly from high and middle income countries. This is the first such initiative from a LAMIC. Thus, ‘Global psychiatry: a LAMIC perspective’!
Acknowledgements
Dr. Linda Cottler and the FOGARTY team, INDO-US program in chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) #1D43TW009120 (M Hazarika, Fellow)
References
1. Das S, Dutta A. SoMHiL and OJPAS™: “like a rolling stone”. Open J Psychiatry Allied Sci. 2017;8:1-2. doi: 10.5958/2394-2061.2016.00051.3. Epub 2016 Dec 10.
2. Academy Publisher. ‘Registered’ [Internet]. 2017 Mar 22 [cited 2017 Apr 17]. Available from: https://academypublisher.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/registered/
3. Academy Publisher. Certificate of registration [Internet]. 2017 Mar 9 [cited 2017 Apr 17]. Available from: https://academypublisher.wordpress.com/2017/03/09/certificate-of-registration/
4. Academy Publisher. RNI [Internet]. 2017 Mar 3 [cited 2017 Apr 17]. Available from: https://academypublisher.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/rni/
5. OJPAS®. About us [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Apr 18]. Available from: http://www.ojpas.com/about-us.html
6. OJPAS®. About the journal [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Apr 18]. Available from: http://www.ojpas.com/about-the-journal.html
7. OJPAS®. Author instructions [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Apr 18]. Available from: http://www.ojpas.com/author-instructions.html
8. World Psychiatric Association. World psychiatry [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Apr 18]. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2051-5545
9. Cambridge University Press. Global mental health [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2017 Apr 18]. Available from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-mental-health
Das S, Das B, Hazarika M. Global psychiatry: a LAMIC perspective. Open J Psychiatry Allied Sci. 2017;8:105-6. doi: 10.5958/2394-2061.2017.00006.4. Epub 2017 Apr 20.
Source of support: Nil. Declaration of interest: None.
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