© 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S
Acta Neuropsychiatrica 2009: 21: 271
All rights reserved
DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-5215.2009.00431.x
ACTA NEUROPSYCHIATRICA
Editorial
Survival of the fittest?
Two hundred years ago, in 1809, Charles Robert Darwin was born in a small English county town called
Shrewsbury. Fifty years later, having traveled widely,
he published his seminal and highly controversial
text ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races
in the Struggle for Life’ (1). In this important book,
he outlined his theory of evolution by natural selection and though his views were initially criticised the
scientific community soon came to fully appreciate
the significance of his work. Indeed, Herbert Spencer
having read Darwin’s thesis compared it to his own
economic theories and coined the phrase ‘survival
of the fittest’. The latter does not accurately capture
‘natural selection’ as determined by Darwin but does
arguably convey its essence far more succinctly.
In relation to Acta Neuropsychiatrica, ‘we’, as
a journal, cannot yet consider ourselves as having
survived though clearly we have managed to publish
(reproduce), and in so doing have successfully
increased our ‘fitness’. Over the past 3 years we
have adapted considerably and continue to evolve
into a meaningful modern-day scientific journal that
addresses the whole spectrum of neuropsychiatry.
This is reflected to some extent by the contents of
this issue of the journal, the last in 2009 in
which, along with our regular research articles,
we have a number of interesting pieces in our
special sections that address topics as far reaching as
perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the
confluence of psychiatry, ethics, politics and culture.
With the expansion of online publishing it is difficult to anticipate the future influences that will
govern the selection and survival of journals. However, I hope that by continuing to serve as a useful
resource for quality science and through the provision of articles that are interesting and educational
Acta Neuropsychiatrica will naturally persevere.
Professor Gin S. Malhi
CADE Clinic,
Discipline of Psychological Medicine,
University of Sydney,
Sydney, Australia
Reference
1. Darwin C. On the origin of species by means of natural
selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle
for life. London: John Murray.
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