JAMA Psychiatry (jama-psychiatry)

Journal positioning

JAMA Psychiatry is a JAMA Network specialty journal for clinical psychiatry and mental-health research relevant to the practice of psychiatry. It favors rigorous, practice-relevant work — randomized psychiatric and psychotherapy trials, large epidemiologic and registry studies, and neuropsychiatric/biomarker and neuroimaging studies tied to clinical phenotypes — with JAMA's emphasis on validated outcomes, adequate power, and direct relevance to mental-health care. It is a JAMA Network venue with a North-American clinical center of gravity, distinct from the Lancet family's global-mental-health reach. Small symptom-scale studies, underpowered neuroimaging with no replication, and biomarker correlations without clinical endpoints are a weak fit. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing aid; it is not clinical or regulatory advice and does not replace the journal's current instructions for authors. Before submitting, re-check the live JAMA Psychiatry author instructions.

When to trigger

• The author names JAMA Psychiatry for a psychiatric trial, epidemiologic, or

neuropsychiatric study and wants a fit/framing check.

• A mental-health study must be re-framed around a validated clinical outcome and a

practice-relevant question for a psychiatry readership.

• The author is choosing between JAMA Psychiatry, JAMA, and the Lancet family

(the-lancet-psychiatry).

• The author needs the journal's reporting-guideline, registration, and desk-reject

expectations for psychiatry work.

Scope & topic fit

• Randomized trials of pharmacologic, psychotherapeutic, neuromodulation, or digital

mental-health interventions with validated symptom or functional outcomes.

• Large psychiatric epidemiology, registry, and longitudinal cohort studies on

incidence, course, comorbidity, and mortality.

• Neuropsychiatric and neuroimaging studies (structural/functional MRI, EEG) tied to

diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment response, with adequate power and replication.

• Genetic and biomarker studies validated against a clinical phenotype or outcome.
• Suicide, substance-use, and severe-mental-illness research with appropriate ethics

and safety monitoring.

• Health-services, disparities, and mental-health-policy research; focused systematic

reviews and meta-analyses.

Method & evidence bar

• Trials must be adequately powered with a prespecified primary outcome using a

validated, clinically meaningful measure; minimal clinically important differences and response/remission definitions should be addressed.

• The applicable reporting guideline and checklist are required: CONSORT for trials

(including extensions for non-pharmacologic/psychotherapy and digital interventions), STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews.

• Trials require prospective registration; registration number, protocol, and

statistical-analysis plan are expected.

• Blinding is often imperfect in psychotherapy/behavioral trials; the report must state

who was blinded and how outcome ascertainment was protected from bias.

• Neuroimaging/biomarker work needs adequate power, correction for multiple comparisons,

and ideally independent replication or external validation.

• Observational claims must address confounding, reverse causation, and missing data;

causal language must match the design.

Structure & house style

• JAMA Network format with a structured abstract and a Key Points box; re-check current

article types (Original Investigation, Brief Report, Research Letter, etc.) and limits on the live guide.

• The introduction frames a focused, practice-relevant psychiatric question; the

discussion states the clinical implication plainly and avoids overstatement.

• Tables/figures follow JAMA Network statistical-reporting standards; CONSORT/STROBE

flow diagrams and outcome-trajectory figures are expected where applicable.

• Supplements carry the protocol, SAP, scale definitions, and additional analyses.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and

../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the ICMJE and JAMA Network anchors, then cite the current JAMA Psychiatry page you checked.

• Search the live site for "JAMA Psychiatry instructions for authors" and follow the

current version.

• Re-check article types and word/reference/table limits, structured-abstract and Key

Points format, and the JAMA Network statistical-reporting requirements.

• Confirm trial registration, the reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA), the

data-sharing statement, and protocol/SAP submission.

• Re-check IRB/ethics, consent (including capacity to consent in severe mental illness),

safety monitoring for suicide/self-harm studies, ICMJE disclosures, funding, and AI-use disclosure.

• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions

win.

Pre-submission self-check

• [ ] The study answers a practice-relevant psychiatric question with a validated, clinically meaningful outcome.
• [ ] The primary outcome is prespecified; response/remission and clinically important differences are addressed; the study is adequately powered.
• [ ] The correct reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA) is completed and attached; blinding and outcome ascertainment are described.
• [ ] Trials are prospectively registered with the number in the manuscript; protocol/SAP provided.
• [ ] Neuroimaging/biomarker work corrects for multiple comparisons and addresses replication; confounding and reverse causation are handled.
• [ ] IRB/consent (including capacity), safety monitoring, ICMJE disclosures, and a data-sharing statement are prepared.

Common desk-reject triggers

• Underpowered symptom-scale trials or single-site studies with no clear practice relevance.
• Neuroimaging studies underpowered, uncorrected for multiple comparisons, or without replication.
• Biomarker/genetic correlations with no clinical phenotype, endpoint, or validation.
• Behavioral/psychotherapy trials with undescribed blinding and bias-prone outcome ascertainment.
• Missing trial registration, protocol, or the required reporting checklist.
• Narrow neuroscience or basic-affective-science interest better served by a neuroscience journal.

Re-routing decision

• Lancet-family, global-mental-health, or LMIC-focused framing → the-lancet-psychiatry.
• Broadly practice-changing, top-tier psychiatry trial → general medicine (jama / NEJM / The Lancet in the natural-science bundle).
• Neurological-disease primary focus over psychiatric phenotype → jama-neurology / brain.
• Child/adolescent mental-health with a developmental center of gravity → jama-pediatrics.
• General internal-medicine relevance over psychiatry specialty → jama-internal-medicine.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] JAMA Psychiatry
[Specialty tags] <2–3 closest psychiatry/mental-health topics>
[Study design / reporting guideline] <RCT-CONSORT / cohort-STROBE / review-PRISMA>
[Method/evidence] <does power, validated outcome, registration, blinding, and replication clear the bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / registration / checklist / blinding / consent-capacity / safety / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>