Partnerships for promoting dissemination of mental health research globally

Low-and middle-income countries (LAMIC), with more than 80% of the global population, bear the greatest burden of mental disorders. Yet these countries are very under-represented in published psychiatric research. There are barriers to publication of mental health research from LAMIC and to the representation of research from these countries in the main literature databases worldwide. The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) aimed to help investigate the reasons for the under-representation of LAMIC in published psychiatric research and consider how to support improved research dissemination, relevant for better mental health and mental health care in all countries. As part of its work plan for the years 2008 to 2011, WPA developed a project to encourage efforts to offer support to psychiatric journals in LAMIC. A WPA publications taskforce was appointed in 2008 to promote the dissemination of research from LAMIC. The taskforce began work together with journal editors to strengthen their chances of being indexed in international databases. Among the first journals participating in the project was the IJP, which is now an inspiration and source of support for other journals.