For comprehensive information regarding the journal's policies on submission, peer-review, publication, ethical standards and APC policies, kindly visit the Policies page. Similarly, for detailed information about the journal, please visit the About page.

It is strongly advised to review the journal's policies before submitting any manuscripts to ensure compliance with the journal's guidelines.

If you would like to conduct an eligibility check before uploading your article to the journal, you can use the Pre-Submission Check tool. This tool helps you identify and correct any deficiencies in your article.

Manuscripts submitted for evaluation should be original and not previously presented or published in any electronic or print medium. If a manuscript was previously presented at a conference or meeting, authors should provide detailed information about the event, including the name, date, and location of the organization.

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with ICMJE-Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (updated in May 2023). 

Authors are required to prepare manuscripts in accordance with the relevant guideline listed below:
●    Randomized research studies and clinical trials: CONSORT guidelines (for protocols, please see the SPIRIT guidance)
●    Observational original research studies: STROBE guidelines 
●    Studies on diagnostic accuracy: STARD guidelines
●    Systematic reviews and meta-analysis: PRISMA guidelines (for protocols, please see the PRISMA-P guidelines)
●    Experimental animal studies: ARRIVE guidelines and Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, 8th edition
●    Nonrandomized evaluations of behavioral and public health interventions: TREND guidelines
●    Case report: the CARE case report guidelines
●    Genetic association studies: STREGA
●    Qualitative research: SRQR guidelines

To find the right guideline for your research, please complete the questionnaire by Equator Network here.

Alpha Psychiatry encourages authors to follow the ‘Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER – guidelines’ when preparing their manuscripts to promote the inclusion of sex and gender considerations in research. Before submission, authors can consult EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators to produce clear, concise and accurate manuscripts that are easy to understand and free of common errors and pitfalls.

The style of manuscripts should follow the AMA Manual of Style, 11th Edition.
 
Manuscripts can only be submitted through the journal’s online manuscript submission and evaluation system. Manuscripts submitted via any other medium and submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be evaluated.
 
In addition to the manuscript files, authors are required to submit the following during the initial submission:
· Copyright Agreement and Acknowledgement of Authorship Form, and
· ICMJE Disclosure Form (should be filled in by all contributing authors) These forms are available for download at https://alpha-psychiatry.com/.

Preparation of the Manuscript
Title page: A separate title page should be submitted with all submissions and this page should include:
●    The full title of the manuscript as well as a short title (running head) of no more than 50 characters,
●    Name(s), affiliations, highest academic degree(s), and ORCID IDs of the author(s),
●    Grant information and detailed information on the other sources of support,
●    Name, address, telephone (including the mobile phone number), and email address of the corresponding author,
●    Acknowledgment of the individuals who contributed to the preparation of the manuscript but who do not fulfill the authorship criteria.
●    If the author(s) is a member of the journal’s Editorial Board, this should be specified in the title page.

Abstract: An abstract should be submitted with all submissions except for Letters to the Editor. The abstract of Original Articles should be structured with subheadings (Background/Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion). Please check Table 1 below for word count specifications.
 
Keywords: Each submission must be accompanied by a minimum of three to a maximum of six keywords for subject indexing at the end of the abstract. The keywords should be listed in full without abbreviations. The keywords should be selected from the National Library of Medicine, Medical Subject Headings database (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).
 
Main Points: All submissions except letters to the editor should be accompanied by 3 to 5 “main points.” These main points should highlight the most important results of the study and emphasize the main message of the manuscript. The main points should be structured as a list and should be written in a clear and straightforward manner. Since the main points are intended for experts and specialists in the field, they should be written in plain language that is easy to understand. By including main points with the manuscript, authors can help ensure that the most important findings and messages of their study are conveyed clearly to the reader.
 
Manuscript Types

Original Articles: Original articles provide new information based on original research. The acceptance of original articles is typically based on the originality and importance of the research. The main text of a Original Articles should be structured with subheadings, including Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, and Discussion. 

Limitations, drawbacks, and the shortcomings of original articles should be mentioned in the Discussion section before the conclusion paragraph.

Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Original Articles

Clinical Trials 
Alpha Psychiatry adopts the ICMJE's clinical trial registration policy, which requires that clinical trials must be registered in a publicly accessible registry that is a primary register of the WHO International Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) or in ClinicalTrials.gov. By registering clinical trials in a publicly accessible registry, authors can help to promote transparency and accountability in their research.
 
Instructions for the clinical trials are listed below. 
• Clinical trial registry is only required for the prospective research projects that study the relationship between a health-related intervention and an outcome by assigning people to different groups.
• To have their manuscript evaluated in the journal, authors should register their research to a public registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment.
• Based on most up to date ICMJE recommendations, Alpha Psychiatry accepts public registries that include minimum acceptable 24-item trial registration dataset.
• Authors are required to state a data sharing plan for the clinical trial registration. Please see details under the “Data Sharing” section.
• For further details, please check ICMJE Clinical Trial Policy and COPE Data and Reproducibility guidelines.

Study Protocols
Study Protocols documents the design of a prospective study, aimed at promoting the dissemination of ongoing research and enhancing transparency. Alpha Psychiatry will consider a limited number of observational studies or clinical trials based on the novelty and potential impact for clinical practice and research. The main text of the study protocols should be structured with subheadings, including Introduction, Materials and Methods, and Discussion, in which possible study impact and limitations are addressed. The abstract of Study Protocols should be structured with subheadings (Background/Objective, Study design, Methods, Results, Conclusion). The study protocols undergo peer review.

Review Articles
Review articles that are written by authors with extensive knowledge and expertise in a particular field and a strong track record of publication are welcomed. These authors may even be invited to contribute a review article to the journal. Review articles should provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on a topic in psychiatry and mental health, and should include discussions and evaluations of relevant research. The subheadings of the review articles can be planned by the authors. However, each review article should include an “Introduction” and a “Conclusion” section. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Review Articles.

Systematic Review
A systematic review is a specialized form of literature review that requires a thorough and comprehensive search of the literature on relevant topics. Its main purpose is to systematically identify, select, assess, and integrate all relevant high-quality research evidence related to specific research questions, topics, or phenomena. It emphasizes factors such as etiology, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, or prevention. Researchers conducting systematic reviews should adhere to the EQUATOR reporting guidelines. For systematic reviews with a focus on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), it is recommended to adhere to the PRISMA guidelines. Conversely, when conducting systematic reviews involving observational studies, it is advisable to follow the MOOSE guidelines. Authors are recommended to complete the flow diagram and include it with their submission. Alpha Psychiatry encourages authors to complete flow diagrams and include them with their submissions. Each systematic review submission should include the PRISMA Checklist as supplementary material, with the relevant page/line and section/paragraph number stated for each item on the checklist. It's important to note that all papers containing meta-analyses will be published as Systematic Reviews in Alpha Psychiatry.

Short Communications
Short communications serve as short papers detailing noteworthy outcomes of novel methods or original experiments, facilitating rapid dissemination. Alpha Psychiatry welcomes authors to submit the completed research and clinical studies that, while not full papers, embody significant contributions in the format of short communications. Please check Table 1 for the limitations for Short Communications.

Case Reports
Starting from Volume 23, Issue 1 (2022), AP does not accept case report types of manuscripts. Authors are welcomed to submit their cases in a Letter to the Editor format. For the instructions for Letter to the Editor, please see below.

Letters to the Editor
A "Letter to the Editor" is a type of manuscript that discusses important or overlooked aspects of a previously published article. The manuscript that is being commented on must be properly cited within the "Letter to the Editor."

Editorial
Editorials are opinion articles from the editor or an invited author. When submitted by an invited contributor, Editorials may introduce the subject being brought into focus in a thematic section. Editorials may comment on one or more articles in the same AP issue or on an area of current interest in Psychiatry. They should be brief and focused. Editorials may have a maximum of 3 authors. The body of the Editorial can be continuous text or divided into subsections. Editorials on topics of current interest are welcome.

Expert Opinion on Guidelines/Expert Opinion
Expert Opinion on Guidelines/Expert Opinion is a type of article that provides critical commentary and further discussion on guidelines or current trends in the psychiatry field. These articles should be written by senior researchers and clinicians with expertise in the relevant area. They may be invited by the journal or submit their manuscript for review by the Editor in Chief. Please refer to Table 1 for the limitations of Expert Opinion on Guidelines/Expert Opinion.

Debate
A "Debate" is a type of article that presents different perspectives on a single issue, aiming to be thought-provoking and engaging. These articles should focus on one or two salient points about the topic of discussion and provide different perspectives on these points. Please refer to Table 1 for the limitations of "Debate."

Table 1. Limitations for each manuscript type

*Word limit should not include the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. Please contact the editorial office if your word amount exceeds the word limit.

 
Tables
Tables should be included in the main document, after the reference list, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the text. Each table should have a descriptive title placed above it, and any abbreviations used in the table should be defined below the table by footnotes (even if they are defined in the main text). Tables should be created using the "insert table" command of the Word processing software, and they should be arranged clearly to make the data easy to read and understand. The data presented in the tables should not be a repetition of the data presented in the main text, but should support and enhance the main text.
 
Figures and Figure Legends
Figures should be submitted as separate files in TIFF or JPEG format, and they should not be embedded in the Word document or the main manuscript file. If a figure has subunits, each subunit should be submitted as a separate file, and the subunits should not be merged into a single image. The figures should not be labeled (a, b, c, etc.) to indicate subunits. Instead, the figure legend should be used to describe the different parts of the figure. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used on the images to support figure legends. Images should be anonymized to remove any information that may identify individuals or institutions. The minimum resolution of each figure should be 300 DPI, and the figures should be clear and easy to read. Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document. Figures should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned. 
 
Abbreviations
All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined at first use, both in the abstract and in the main text. The abbreviation should be provided in parentheses following the definition, and it should be used consistently throughout the paper.

Identifying products
When mentioning a drug, product, hardware, or software program in a manuscript, it is important to provide detailed information about the product in parentheses. This should include the name of the product, the producer of the product, and the city and country of the company. For example, if mentioning a Discovery St PET/CT scanner produced by General Electric in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, the information should be presented in the following format: "Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)." Providing this information helps to ensure that the product is properly identified and credited.

Supplementary Materials
Supplementary materials, including audio files, videos, datasets, and additional documents (e.g., appendices, additional figures, tables), are intended to complement the main text of the manuscript. These supplementary materials should be submitted as a separate section after the references list. Concise descriptions of each supplementary material should be included to explain their relevance to the manuscript. Page numbers are not required for supplementary materials.

References
Both in-text citations and the references must be prepared according to the AMA Manual of Style 11th Edition.

When citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up-to-date sources. Citing the latest sources can help to ensure that the paper is relevant and timely, and that it reflects the latest developments in the field.

It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure the accuracy of the references in their article. All sources must be properly cited, and the citations must be formatted correctly.

In the main text of the manuscript, references should be cited in superscript after punctuation. 

If an ahead-of-print publication is cited, the DOI number should be provided in the reference list.

Journal titles should be abbreviated in the reference list in accordance with the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed. 

When there are six or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. If there are seven or more authors, the first three authors should be listed followed by “et al.” in the reference list. 

The reference styles for different types of publications are presented in the following examples.
 
Journal Article: Ammitzboll C, Andersen JB, Vils SR, et al. Isolation, behavioral changes, and low seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Care Res. 2022;74(11):1780-1785.

Book Section: Cohen EL. The multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary nature of health communication scholarship. In: Thompson TL, Harrington NG, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Health Communication. London: Routledge;2022:3-16.

Books with a Single Author: Haslwanter T. An Introduction to Statistics with Python. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Springer International Publishing; 2022.

Editor(s) as Author: Thompson TL, Harrington NG, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Health Communication. London: Routledge;2022.

Thesis: Chunga A. The Role of the Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiota in Colonisation Resistance Against Common Enteric Pathogens in Malawian Children. Dissertation. University of Liverpool; 2022.

Websites:  International Society for Infectious Diseases. ProMed-mail. Accessed December 13, 2022. http://www.promedmail.org

Epub Ahead of Print Articles: Torres X, Bennasar M, Bautista-Rodríguez C, et al. The heart after surviving twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2022 Mar 26. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2022.03.049. [Epub ahead of print].

Production Processes

Language Editing
Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, the language editing service of ALPHA PSYCHIATRY is provided by IMR to ensure that it is clear and well-written. This process may involve correcting grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors, as well as making changes to improve the overall clarity and readability of the manuscript.

Proof Production
After the copy-editing process is complete, the manuscript is published online as an "ahead-of-print" publication, which means that it is available to readers before it is included in a scheduled issue of the journal. This allows readers to access the latest research as soon as it becomes available.

When the PDF of the article is generated, the corresponding author will receive an email with a link to our online proofing system. With that email, the author can make corrections to the article.

The corresponding author is asked to review the proof and approve it for publication within a specified time period, typically two days. 

Web-based proofing provides a faster and more accurate process by allowing you to type your corrections directly, eliminating the potential introduction of errors. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness, and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. Since the article is in the pre-publication process, significant changes will only be implemented with the editorial decision.

Disclaimer
Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in Alpha Psychiatry reflect the views of the author(s) and not the opinions of the editors, the editorial board, or the publisher; the editors, the editorial board, and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. The final responsibility regarding the published content rests with the authors.