- ISSN: 0007-1250 (Print), 1472-1465 (Online)
- Frequency: 12 issues per year
The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) is a leading international peer-reviewed journal, covering all branches of psychiatry with a particular emphasis on the clinical aspects of each topic. Published monthly on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the journal is committed to improving the prevention, investigation, diagnosis, treatment, and care of mental illness, as well as the promotion of mental health globally. In addition to authoritative original research articles from around the world, the journal publishes editorials, review articles, commentaries on contentious articles, a comprehensive book review section and a lively, well-informed correspondence column. BJPsych is essential reading for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and all professionals with an interest in mental health.
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The British Journal of Psychiatry was originally founded in 1853 as the Asylum Journal and was known as the Journal of Mental Science from 1858 to 1963. The complete archive of contents between 1855 and 2000 has been digitised.
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Focus
The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) is a leading international peer-reviewed journal, covering all branches of psychiatry with a particular emphasis on the clinical aspects of each topic.
Mission
The journal is committed to improving the prevention, investigation, diagnosis, treatment, and care of mental illness, as well as the promotion of mental health globally.
Audience
The journal is essential reading for psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and all professionals with an interest in mental health. The print version of BJPsych is sent to all members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which includes most psychiatrists working in the UK. There is also a substantial international subscriber base.
Ownership & Management
The journal is owned and managed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and published monthly by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the College. The College grants editorial freedom and independence to the Editor-in-Chief of BJPsych.
Revenue Sources
Both the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Cambridge University Press are not-for-profit organisations, committed to fulfilling their respective objectives of securing the best outcomes for people with mental illness, learning difficulties and developmental disorders and advancing learning, knowledge and research worldwide .
BJPsych receives revenue to ensure we can maintain the highest publishing quality and standards. Revenue sources include: individual and institutional subscriptions; advertising; sales of reprints, rights and royalties; and open access fees. For details on how we avoid charging subscribers for content that has been made Open Access through the payment of an Article Processing Charge ('double dipping'), please see our transparent pricing policy. Please find information about our advertising procedures and guidelines here .
Press and Embargoes
Upon acceptance, BJPsych articles may be selected for press release by the author's institution, the RCPsych media team (press@rcpsych.ac.uk), or CUP media team (societymarketing@cambridge.org). The press release will be distributed under strict embargo, usually with advance access to the full article. Those registered to receive our press releases understand that the embargo is a strict one, and that no information about the article can be published or broadcast until the embargo has lifted. Journalists can contact the authors for comment or further details before the embargo date.
Disclaimer
BJPsych is not responsible for statements made by contributors. Unless so stated, material in this journal does not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor-in-Chief or the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The publishers are not responsible for any error of omission or fact.
- On the cover
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Cover picture Robert Fergusson. Sculpture by David Annand. Outside the Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh.
Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), whom Burns called ‘My elder brother in the muse' and who was admired by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hugh McDiarmid and Edwin Muir, is Edinburgh’s greatest poet. His death in the City Bedlam at the age of 24 highlighted the lack of provision for the mentally ill in the Scottish capital and led eventually to the building of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum (now Hospital), which opened in 1813.
Fergusson was born on the 5th September 1750 in the Cap-and-Feather Close, a narrow alley off the High street in Edinburgh. A sickly child, he was initially not expected to survive infancy. Subsequently, he attended school in Edinburgh and Dundee, before enrolling at St Andrew's University at the age of 14. He returned to Edinburgh in 1768 and found work as a copying clerk in the Commissary Office. Fergusson had been writing poetry ever since his student days and his poems now began to appear in The Weekly Magazine from 1771 onwards. A volume of his poetry, published in 1773, was warmly received and sold well.
Around October 1773, Fergusson began to complain of feeling melancholy and this persisted for several months. In July 1774 he fell down a staircase, sustaining a head injury which rendered him confused and aggressive. He was visited at his home by Dr Andrew Duncan, who was later to become Professor of the Institutions of Medicine in Edinburgh. He arranged for Fergusson to be transferred to the City Bedlam. His condition continued to fluctuate between confusion and lucidity, before he eventually died on the 7th October 1774. He is buried in the Canongate Kirk graveyard, his tombstone paid for by Robert Burns. Although it is not possible to say definitively what was wrong with Fergusson, it seems likely that he died from the consequences of his head injury. The grim conditions prevailing at the City Bedlam led Dr Duncan and others to campaign for the creation of a purpose-built asylum in the city.
Text by Allan Beveridge
Beveridge A. Edinburgh's Poet Laureate: Robert Fergusson's illness reconsidered. History of Psychiatry 1990; 1: 309–329.
Photo Credit: Stefan Schafer. The Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
We are always looking for interesting and visually appealing images for the cover of the Journal and would welcome suggestions or pictures, which should be sent to Dr Allan Beveridge, British Journal of Psychiatry, 21 Prescot Street, London, E1 8BB, UK or bjp@rcpsych.ac.uk.