Tsai’s mental health research journal earns high impact factor

There’s never a dull moment in the professional life of faculty member Jack Tsai, PhD, who has a unique ability to balance many different responsibilities and roles with equanimity and efficiency. In addition to being professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Tsai is the founding editor-in-chief of npj Mental Health Research, an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing the latest mental health research.

The journal, which he helped launch four years ago, has earned an impact factor score this year of 9.1, making it one of the top 10 journals in psychiatry in the world. The journal’s published research has been downloaded over one million times.

As the journal’s editor, Tsai said this high impact factor score reflects the emphasis he places on promoting research that elevates and investigates the most pressing mental health questions of the current moment.

“I have been lucky to surround myself with a stellar, global team of associate editors, great editorial staff, and esteemed editorial board members from around the world,” Tsai said.  “Nature Springer has also been great publisher. Together, we’ve nurtured the journal into a blossoming outlet for authors to submit their work. When I first took the job as founding editor almost five years ago, I wasn’t sure how challenging it would be to start a brand-new journal. We’ve had to build and overcome hurdles, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Research focused on mental health is more important now than ever, Tsai said, as the world faces global social strife and technology advancing so rapidly it can be disorienting. He also believes that while the circumstances may be new for the human race, mental health challenges have existed for millennia, and curious minds have always looked for ways to solve these challenges.

“We are living in an important time for humanity and there is a great need for mental health services and research,” Tsai said. “While the world around us is changing, our core needs and wants remain the same. It is through research that we are able to make progress on improving our mental health.”

To acknowledge this new impact factor milestone for the journal, Tsai wrote an editorial on the future of human connection in a world being changed by AI. As the world is changing at a rapid pace, Tsai said humans will naturally feel disoriented and perhaps begin looking for answers about what it means to be human in a world that increasingly relies on robots replacing humans in certain industries.

“These are important questions that we must contend with and prepare for as a human civilization as we learn to co-exist with AI,” Tsai said. “Not every technology has been or will be positive, and they will not automatically lead to deeper humanity. One challenge for our field is to study and research how technological progress can best serve human mental health.”

Looking to the future, Tsai hopes npj Mental Health Research will continuously be leading the way in the field of mental health research and adapting to the ever-changing needs of the world. Some of the journal’s recent publications on the use of psychedelics; prescribing and deprescribing medication for mental health disorders; and the role of social media in mental health all demonstrate a commitment to staying at the forefront of research, Tsai said.

“I want the journal to prioritize publishing high-quality, rigorous research that sheds light on new and important ways we can meaningfully improve behavioral health,” Tsai said. “The important topics we focus on evolve over time and one of my jobs is to stay current with the latest developments so the journal can stay on the cutting edge.”