Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health has launched a mentorship programme offering young people the chance to spend a year on the journal’s editorial board.

The journal, which was launched in 2023 by Cambridge University Press, publishes papers with a broad application of “the global point of view” of mental health issues. The field of global mental health is still emerging, reflecting a movement of advocacy and shared research driven by a need to close treatment gaps and disparities in care, access, and capacity.

Cambridge Prisms GMH is growing this emerging distinct discipline, and the new knowledge coming from it. The editors-in-chief – Professor Judith Bass of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, USA, and Dr Dixon Chibanda, Associate Professor at the Centre for Global Mental Health and founder of the Friendship Bench project in Zimbabwe – have vast experience in the field and a drive to make global mental health truly ‘global’ in nature.

Crucially, the journal is looking for candidates from different continents including the Global South to join the mentorship programme.

One the one-year programme, successful applicants will learn:

• How to comprehensively peer-review an article;

• The benefits of being on an editorial board;

• The ethics of peer review and the trends of ethical misconduct;

• Journal policies and the role of a handling editor;

• The impact of a strong and cohesive editorial board;

• How to provide constructive comments to authors; and

• How to assess peer review reports submitted on an article.

Professor Bass explained: “When we introduced the journal, we stated in the opening editorial ‘We are also working to promote participation of individuals from diverse and underrepresented communities and diverse experiences, including those with lived experience, in all stages of the research pipeline: from conceptualization to publication of findings.’ 

“This mentorship program is part of this mission to increase the range of voices and experiences that will be represented in the journal publications; as a global journal, we want to be intentional that we are bringing together researchers from all parts of the world.”

Professor Bass says the successful candidates will gain practical experience in reviewing research articles with supportive mentorship from more seasoned reviewers to gain competency in providing constructive feedback as well as seeing how authors respond to the feedback. 

She added: “Reviewing others’ research is one of the ways to improve one’s own research, through seeing how others approach a problem and seeing how to receive and respond to feedback. Mentees will also learn about the submission-publication process and all the steps that have to happen for it to be successful.”

“Early career researchers have an opportunity to bring in new ideas related to methods and topics – areas that have emerged during their training but have not yet been interrogated or investigated in different contexts. We are thoroughly looking forward to welcoming the successful candidates to our journal.”

To apply, send your CV to globalmentalhealth@cambridge.org