European Journal of Mental Health

“Well-being in social and ecological context”

Aims and Scope 

In our view, human development, well-being, mental health, nature, culture, and society are co-evolving systems that interact in complex and dynamic ways. We are therefore seeking new quantitative and qualitative empirical studies, comprehensive reviews and thought-provoking perspective articles inspired by theoretical or practical dilemmas, preferably in a comparative way, through individual, socio-cultural, historical, or institutional perspectives.

The European Journal of Mental Health is an international, interdisciplinary, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes research in social and behavioral sciences focusing on mental health, personal and relational well-being, and quality of life. Our journal promotes a broader understanding of mental health and well-being through developmental and life-course perspectives, relational and systemic approaches, social-ecological views, and transdisciplinary thinking. It provides a platform for novel and unique theoretical and empirical findings and welcomes manuscripts from all fields of psychology, psychiatry, other health sciences, sociology, social work, social policy, education, special education, human ecology, and media sciences. The European Journal of Mental Health particularly welcomes interdisciplinary research in applied fields and also focuses on contemporary social and ecological risks and problems affecting well-being and mental health in general, as well as specific populations in Europe and across other cultures. The Journal encourages the conduct and publication of solution-focused and resilience-oriented research.

The  Journal was established in 2006. It is owned and supported by Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary), and maintained by the Institute of Mental Health. The European Journal of Mental Health does not charge a submission or editing fee. Since 2017, the European Journal of Mental Health publishes articles only in English. The journal uses the DOI system. As of 2023, the journal publishes 1–3 articles on a monthly basis. Advertising spaces are not sold nor are sponsorship accepted by the journal. 

 

Keywords

mental health, well-being, and quality of life;
lifelong development, and socio-ecological contexts;
developmental psychopathology, and resilience;
human relationships, and systems theory;
individuals, couples, families, and communities;
translation between theory and practice;
planning and evaluating interventions;
social and behavioral sciences, interdisciplinarity; quantitative and qualitative research;
literature reviews and perspectives

 

Open Access and Copyright

The European Journal of Mental Health is a fully open access journal publishing its articles under the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY). This means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking for prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.

Authors retain the copyright of their work and can deposit their publication in any repository. The article may be freely disseminated and shared. 

From 2023, the Journal facilitates and supports the pre-registration of studies and access to research data, as well.

 

Readership

We bring our articles to the attention of researchers, academics, clinicians, other practitioners, and the general public worldwide.

The professionals who can most benefit from reading the publications of the journal are: psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counselors, doctors, nurses, health visitors, public health and health promotion professionals, sociologists, social workers, social policy experts, educators, special needs teachers, human ecologists, media professionals, researchers and practitioners of various fields.

 

Topics in Details

The primary thematic focus of the European Journal of Mental Health is the social-ecological context of mental health and well-being. The Journal specifically invites submissions of high-quality, original research as well as comprehensive reviews, and thought-provoking perspective articles on findings and dilemmas in well-being and mental health research across the lifespan and in different ecological, cultural, and historical contexts.

EJMH is encouraging:

  • theoretical approaches based on the social ecology of resilience to mental health research and practice;
  • methodological approaches based on responsible research and innovation, open science, as well as  patient-based, participatory, and dialogue models;
  • practice- and policy action-oriented research that is responsive to individuals with mental health problems and to their families, healthcare workers, policymakers, and funders, etc.

In particular, we are looking for contributions from the following areas by examining any period of the lifespan (from infancy to old age):

  • the socio-ecological context of the development of mental health problems;
  • vulnerability and stress over the life course (among children, adolescents, young adults, and older people); risk and protective factors for well-being and mental health; developmental psychopathology and resilience;
  • the role of the physical, built, and social environment, social and community relationships in maintaining mental health;
  • links between new media use (e.g. internet, games, and social media) and mental health;
  • the impact of aging, challenges of long-term care, etc.

The empowerment of mental health service users and carers is also a key topic for our journal:

  • co-responsibility in patient-based research; research with and for service users;
  • examination of informal care and family functioning of people with mental health problems;
  • anti-stigmatization, anti-victimization, and anti-discrimination interventions;
  • social inclusion, health inequalities, access to mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention services;
  • evaluation methods to assess the quality of mental health services;
  • ways of coping and recovery, etc.

The Journal promotes a systemic understanding of the sociocultural and socioeconomic contexts of well-being and mental health:

  • differences in the financial, regulatory organization, implementation, and reliability of service provision, the effectiveness of health-care systems;
  • the political and legal context of mental health; mental health policies; formal and informal networks of care, ethical dilemmas, and diagnostic issues;
  • socio-cultural change, climate adaptation, urbanization, digitalization, globalization, and individualization, changing labor markets, global epidemics, and community transitions, demographic shifts, mass migration, etc.

Last but not least, we are interested in mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention strategies:

  • strength-based, resilience-oriented mental health promotion and prevention programs;
  • intervention programs for pregnant women, young children, adolescents, adults, and older generations, couples, families, communities and networks;
  • interventions using new scientific and technological advances, ICT-based (eHealth) approaches;
  • social innovation in mental health care and service delivery, etc.

 

Content Types

The European Journal of Mental Health welcomes original Research Articles of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method empirical findings, impact assessments, effectiveness evaluations, and participative (action) research, as well as Narrative, Systematic and Scoping Reviews, Meta-Analyses, and Meta-Syntheses, and Perspective Articles from the full range of disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences mentioned above. For detailed information on article types, see the Authors’ guidelines.

 

Indexing

Databases indexing and abstracting EJMH:

SCImago Journal & Country Rank

0.7
2019CiteScore
 
 
23rd percentile
Powered by  Scopus

 

 

The Benefits of Publishing in the European Journal of Mental Health

The open-access policy of the European Journal of Mental Health allows for the maximum visibility of articles published in the Journal, as they are widely available to a potential readership.

From the summer of 2022, manuscripts will be submitted online through a well-structured and reliable electronic system (Clarivate ScholarOne), where the manuscript tracking system will be continuously monitored.

The journal employs a thorough and professional peer-review process and a comprehensive editorial policy managed fully electronically, and aimed at maximizing the quality of manuscripts throughout the publication process.

Manuscripts are likely to be published within 9-12 months of submission, depending on the depth of the requested revisions and the number of revision rounds.

 

Citing Articles in the European Journal of Mental Health

Articles in the European Journal of Mental Health should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional, printed journal. From 2023 onwards, articles will be published on a continuous monthly basis and will not be sorted into issues, so they will not have a page number linked to an issue, but will have a unique article number.

Article citations follow this format until 2022 December:

Authors: Title. Eur J Ment Health [year], [volume number]([issue number]), [page numbers].

e.g.  Smith, J. (2022). Mental Health of preschool children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria. European Journal of Mental Health, 17(2), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.5708/EJMH.17.2022.2.2

Article citations follow this format from 2023 January:

Authors: Title. Eur J Ment Health [year], [volume number], [article number].

e.g. … Smith, J. (2023). Mental Health of preschool children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria. European Journal of Mental Health, 18, eXXXXXXX. https://doi.org/10.5708/EJMH.18.2023.1.2

 

Peer-review Policies

Peer review is a system for assessing and improving the quality of a manuscript before publication. Following an editorial pre-screening process, independent researchers in the relevant research area are invited to evaluate submitted manuscripts for originality, validity, and relevance, so that editors can decide whether to publish the manuscript in their journal.

The journal operates a double-blind peer review system in which the reviewers do not know the names and affiliations of the authors, and the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers.

In most cases, manuscripts submitted are judged by two, or in the cases of dilemmas up to three reviewers, who must assess whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, presents interesting and unique results for the field, is methodologically correct and replicable, and is sufficiently clear and understandable for publication. Reviewers will also provide a detailed and coherent textual assessment and point out the need for minor or major revisions within the manuscript. The editors will decide on the basis of these reports whether to revise and publish the manuscript. Following the revision process, the reviewers receive the manuscripts again and approve publication. Depending on the quality of the manuscript, authors may be asked to submit 1-3 rounds of revisions. One of the editors will be responsible for monitoring the revision process, confirming the reviewers’ requests and/or making formal, methodological, and professional suggestions in addition to those made by the reviewers.

If the reviewers do not consider a manuscript worthy of publication, the editors may still decide to publish a manuscript, and conversely, they may also decide to reject a manuscript while the reviewers have accepted it.

 

Editorial Policies

The Journal’s professional supervision is provided by the Editor-in-Chief, a multi-member editorial office headed by a professional coordinator, and an international editorial board.

Psychologists, sociologists, and doctors make up the editorial office. The international editorial board consists of representatives from different disciplines, professions, and countries.

The pre-screening of manuscripts is carried out in three rounds by the editorial secretary, two editors of the editorial board, and one invited board member, and the monitoring of the review process is carried out by one of the editors.

 

Facts

Editor-in-Chief: Beáta Dávid, PhD

Editors:

Ildikó Danis, PhD – Coordinator of the Editorial Office

Bálint Balázs, PhD

Zoltán Brys

Cinderella Komolafe

Zsuzsanna Papp, PhD

Szabolcs Török, MD, PhD

Editorial Secretary: Orsolya Sármásy, Melinda Winkler

Short Name: Eur. J. Ment. Health

Abbreviation: ejmh

Electronic ISSN: 1788-7119

 

Contact

Mailing address: H-1428 Budapest, POBox 2, Hungary

Address: H-1089 Budapest, Nagyvárad tér 4., 19. em., Hungary

E-mail: ejmh-editor@public.semmelweis-univ.hu