In crowded 'psychopharm' field Bickel stresses journal's impact

New editor of APA's psychopharmacology journal plans to push for innovative content.

By Scott Sleek
Monitor staff

Warren Bickel, PhD, says one of his biggest challenges as the upcoming editor of APA's Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (ECP) will be the competition.

'This is a pretty new journal, and the marketplace is rich with journals on psychopharmacology of one sort or another,' he says. 'So we're fighting for a niche in a pretty developed market.'

And Bickel, a professor and vice-chair for research in the University of Vermont psychiatry department, has a clear strategy for distinguishing ECP from such publications as Behavioral Pharmacology, The American Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Psychopharmacology. In preparing for his six-year term as editor beginning in 2000, (he is now accepting manuscripts) he plans to start a unique special section in the journal devoted exclusively to innovations in psychopharmacology.

ECP, launched as a quarterly journal in 1992, is aimed at both basic and applied researchers and practitioners. It publishes original empirical research on:

o Social, behavioral, cognitive, emotional, physiological and neurochemical toxicity.

o The etiology, progression, adverse effects and treatments of drug abuse.

o Controlled clinical trials aimed at improving the effectiveness, range and depth of pharmacological treatments.

But Bickel also wants to establish ECP as a source for the latest, most original, inventive approaches to the study of the pharmacological and behavioral effects of medicines and narcotics.

'This section would be for papers that are innovative in any number of areas, including theory, methodology, findings and treatments,' he explains. 'It would differentiate ECP from other journals, may increase interest for individuals in the field to stay informed of important new developments, and could improve the journal's impact.'

Bickel himself has spent much of his career looking at unconventional ways to study the effects of both medicines and narcotics on behavior. He is involved in an effort to merge the study of substance abuse with the seemingly unrelated field of behavioral economics. In some recent work, for example, he and his colleagues have used hypothetical monetary incentives to measure drug users' ability to delay gratification.

They've found, for example, that heroin addicts are more likely than control participants to forego large monetary awards in the future in exchange for smaller, immediate sums. Further studies may reveal whether that preference for instant gratification is a cause-or a result-of drug addiction, Bickel suggests.

Bickel is particularly interested in publishing cutting-edge research on the impact that drugs have on behavior, part of an attempt to dovetail with APA's effort to kick off the Decade of Behavior in 2000.

(APA's Science Directorate is launching the Decade of Behavior to educate the public about the importance of behavioral and social research.)

Bickel also plans to establish in ECP a formal section for reviews of research. He wants to explicitly distinguish reviews from original research articles. In that section, he wants especially to encourage contributors to review psycho-pharmacological treatments for various disorders.

As the profession's efforts to obtain prescription privileges move forward, the reviews on treatments may be important for advancing the profession's knowledge of psychopharmacological interventions, he says.

'ECP shouldn't be a place for political discussion about prescription privileges,' he says, noting that psychologists are still debating the profession's need for prescriptive authority. 'But it should be an outlet for psychologists interested in learning about psychoactive agents and what those agents can do.'

Bickel earned his doctorate in developmental and child psychology from the University of Kansas in 1983, and is an active figure in the psychopharmacology field. He co-directs the human behavioral pharmacology laboratory at the university's psychiatry department. He also co-directs the university's Institutional Training Program in Behavioral Pharmacology of Human Drug Dependence and its Substance Abuse Treatment Center.

In 1988, APA's Div. 28 (Psychopharmacology) awarded him its Young Psychopharmacologist Award. He has received a MERIT award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

He has written or co-authored nearly 150 articles and book chapters, and he is co-editor of two upcoming books on behavioral economics.

He plans no other major changes to the publication, noting that it's already established a fine tradition under the editorship of Charles Shuster, PhD, a psychologist at Wayne State University in Detroit.

'Dr. Shuster, in my opinion, has done a remarkable job as editor, both in establishing the journal and ensuring broad coverage with articles of high quality,' Bickel says. 'ECP is a success.'

Manuscripts for ECP can be sent to Bickel at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, 38 Fletcher Place, Burlington, VT 05401-1419. Instructions for submitting manuscripts can be obtained online at www.apa.org/journals/pha.html.

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