Dr. William Stoops is the Director of the Regulatory Knowledge and Support Core and Component Lead for Research Methods and one of three principal investigators at the Laboratory of Human Behavioral Pharmacology at the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Stoops is also Program Chair and a member of the Board of Directors of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
He has previously served as a guest editor for a special issue of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Tell us a bit about your background: What is your area of research? What is your most recent journal-editing experience?
I conduct human laboratory research investigating the behavioral and pharmacological effects of drugs of abuse — the broader goal of this work is to model, develop and improve treatments for substance use disorder.
This will be my first real editorial position, but I was a guest editor for a special issue of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology commemorating the 50th anniversary of APA Division 28 (Society for Psychopharmacology and Substance Use).
I'm currently guest editing a special issue of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior on Decision Making in Addiction.
Briefly, what are your main priorities? For example, how will you grow readership, what type of scholarship would you like to see in the journal, and what kind of content are you hoping to attract?
My main priorities are to maintain and grow the quality and impact of the journal. I want to add different submission types to the journal, including brief communications and short reviews. I think that the addition of these types of submissions will increase the presence of cutting-edge research in the journal, as well as make publishing in the journal more accessible to early career scientists.
The journal has a long history of publishing substance abuse related psychopharmacology research, but I hope to add a stronger representation of psychopharmacology research, especially preclinical research, from other areas like work with antidepressants, antipsychotics and anxiolytics.
I also want to increase the inclusiveness of the journal, both in the make-up of the editorial board, the reviewers, readers and submitters. This is a plan I'm working on, but I intend to capitalize on my membership in a number of professional societies that have diversity committees and work with those networks.
Why is this journal important for the field? What is its relevance to society/public health? What are the hot issues in your area right now?
The journal is important because it publishes translational research, ranging from preclinical studies to human laboratory studies to clinical trials, on the behavioral and pharmacological effects of centrally acting drugs. I like to think of it is a one-stop-shop for psychologists and other scientists to learn about new findings in the field.
The work published in the journal can impact society and public health because it speaks to development of new treatments for numerous public health problems, especially substance use disorders.
Hot topics include understanding how various biological and behavioral variables impact response to centrally acting drugs, development of novel medications for stimulant use disorders and combating the opioid overdose epidemic to name a few.
What challenges, if any, lie ahead for the field?
I think our field faces many challenges faced by other fields: concerns about replication/reproducibility, scarce resources to fund work and dissemination of novel findings to the clinic and community (along with translation of findings in the clinic/community back to the lab).
Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Are you making any changes?
I intend to have a special issue of the journal each year — my goal is for the special issue topic to come from the readership, with input from the editorial board.
I don't intend to make major changes to the editorial process, but I'm hoping to add new submission types and will also work with the P&C board to establish an editorial fellowship for an Early Career Psychologist to learn the editorial process by partnering with me for a 1–2 year period.
Editor Spotlight features interviews with the newly-appointed editors of APA Journals.
APA Journals produces an array of scholarly journals that cover the spectrum of modern psychology and feature the latest research in the field.
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology® publishes advances in translational and interdisciplinary research on psychopharmacology, broadly defined, and/or substance abuse.