It has been 5 years since the transition of CNS Spectrums to Cambridge University Press and my editorship. What an exhilarating run it has been. Our impact factor has doubled twice, placing us in the upper tier of psychiatry journals as well as neurology journals now, with record numbers of downloads and citations year after year. We continue our association with the Neuroscience Education Institute, whose members get free full-text download access to the journal, whose poster presenters at the NEI Congress have their abstracts published as indexed and citable entries in the journal, and who sponsors and edits a special CME issue with multiple articles every year. Those activities will continue moving forward as well.

As always, we rely on a fantastic group of field editors (Joe Goldberg, Carlos Zarate, Frank Tarazi, Tom Schwartz, and Thomas Schlaepfer) working with a wonderful editorial board and many, many reviewers who are incredibly generous with their time. A list of 2016 reviewers for CNS Spectrums is attached as Table 1, and with our great thanks. Our authors are nothing short of stellar, and our journal is now accessible to major medical libraries and institutions throughout the world. In September, the journal transitioned to the new online platform, “Cambridge Core,” which will provide our readers with an improved experience. Our senior editor Ann Avouris and our managing editor Lisa Arrington keep things at CNS Spectrums ticking like a clock and provide invaluable management and ideas to keep us moving forward.

Table 1 CNS Spectrums 2016 peer reviewers

So, what will change moving forward, and what will keep CNS Spectrums on the move? I have outlined some of our plans in Table 2. To begin, we will be rotating some of our editorial board, with some new blood coming on board, and with some retirements to keep things fresh, and these announcements will be coming soon. We will also be featuring new cover art starting in 2017, and some changes to the formats of articles we accept (see Table 3). We especially continue to encourage original articles of new data, increasingly featuring preclinical studies of translational value as well as clinical studies, especially in popular areas already being published extensively in CNS Spectrums (see Table 2). For example, in the pipeline for 2017 are some very notable thematic issues including one on “Depression with Mixed Features,” another on “Psychiatry and Terrorism,” and yet another showcasing our second special issue on “Neuropsychiatry.”

Table 2 CNS Spectrums on the move

Table 3 Summary of article types and requirements

Hopefully, this kick-off editorial will help answer the question, “What is CNS Spectrums?” and will demonstrate that our journal is certainly on the move. I look forward to the exciting developments in store for us, and invite you all to submit your important work to our journal.