Launching a new journal is nerve-wracking. We spent months thinking about what Nature Reviews Psychology could be, and what we wanted our articles to achieve, with no idea how our efforts would be received. And then the moment of truth: one year ago, we published our first issue and could finally share our vision with the world. As we celebrate this milestone, we take a moment to look back at what we have published and accomplished in our first year.

The mission of Nature Reviews Psychology is to cover the full spectrum of psychological science. Our progress toward that goal is reflected in the diversity of articles featured on our volume 1 issue covers, which span topics including voice-hearing, reading mechanisms, political polarization, time perception, emotion, memory and waking rest, and the therapeutic alliance. Our covers also featured articles on more applied topics (the future of work, the science of learning), methodological considerations (depression measurement), and topics with immediate real-world relevance (misinformation, transgender and non-binary mental health). We’ve assembled the articles that inspired our first 12 covers into an online Collection, where they are free to access until 12 February.

Credit: Charlotte Gurr/Springer Nature Limited

A good Review synthesizes current knowledge to highlight where more research is needed. Each of our articles discusses how to move that particular research area forward, calling for changes to how research is conducted by embracing new technologies, new study designs, and more diverse sampling practices. But what is also clear is that more fundamental changes are needed across the field and academia more broadly. In our first year we published Comments calling for more — and better — support for faculty members of colour, mothers in academia and PhD students. We also published Comments that draw attention to inequities and systemic biases in psychological science. We are inspired by these (and other!) passionate voices calling for change and suggesting solutions, and are committed to providing a platform for these important discussions.

In our first year we also introduced Journal Clubs, which provide a forum for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to share an article that inspired them. We are continually impressed by the insights and thoughtful analysis provided by these early career scholars, and their enthusiasm. They are excited about the future of the field, and we are excited to see what they go on to accomplish.

Finally, we introduced our Correspondence section, which provides a formal outlet for readers to engage with articles published in the journal. Web analytics tell us whether our papers are being read, shared and discussed, but handling Correspondence gives us the opportunity to engage directly with our readers and their critiques.

We could not have done any of this without our wonderful authors. We extend special thanks to those who took a chance on us and agreed to write for the journal before we even had a website! Our editorial process is extremely hands-on and the deep working relationships that we develop with authors make our job incredibly special and rewarding. We are also immensely grateful to our peer reviewers, whom we have counted on for thoughtful, balanced and constructive assessments that have made each paper we published even better.

Finally, a huge thank you to our readers. The editorial feedback we provide to authors is always designed with you in mind, and we hope you have found our articles informative, insightful, perhaps provocative, and enjoyable to read. We’ve been lucky to meet many of you and hear your thoughts on the journal (and the field) on video calls and at conferences, and we look forward to many more such conversations in the coming year. If you’d like to schedule a meeting with us, we’d love to hear from you!

It has been a true joy to bring Nature Reviews Psychology to life, and to see it so positively received. Year one has been a blast, and we are excited about what’s to come.