The aim and goal for the initiative is to establish European Practical Guidance i) in screening, diagnosis and/or treatment of a child and adolescent psychiatric disorder or ii) for assessment and/or treatment of specific groups/populations (e.g. infants, school children, minorities, refugees), and iii) for any topic of general interest based on scientific evidence and good clinical practice.
An author or a group of authors can propose an article addressing a topic of general interest to the ECAP readership. Alternatively, an author or a group of authors may be contacted by the ESCAP board or ECAP editorial board. Propositions should be made to the Clinical Division of the ESCAP board (contact: Dr. Eniko Kiss: kissceni@gmail.com or Prof. Anne Marie Råberg Christensen: Anne.Marie.Raaberg.Christensen@regionh.dk ) and the ECAP Editor-in-Chief (Prof. Pieter J. Hoekstra: p.hoekstra@accare.nl). Proposals should include topic, preliminary title, length of article, a brief outline and names and addresses of all authors (if necessary, additional authors may be added during the compilation of the article). Both the ESCAP board and the ECAP editorial board will review, discuss and potentially request the consideration of specific comments. The author(s) will receive a final consent to proceed from both ESCAP and ECAP. The initial approval of a proposition by both boards does not guarantee the publication in ECAP or on the ESCAP Website. The article should be submitted to ECAP via the editorial manager; the title page should include the subheading ESCAP Practical Guidance Article. All articles will be peer-reviewed by at least three reviewers.
Authors of an ESCAP Practical Guidance Article should represent at least four different European countries. Unfortunately, ESCAP cannot generally provide financial support for the compilation of an ESCAP Practical Guidance. However, requests can be made in specific instances, which need to be delineated in detail and addressed to the ESCAP Clinical Division.
The ESCAP Practical Guidance Article should include the reasons for addressing a given topic or disorder (e.g. timeliness, novel evidence, non-existence of guidance/guidelines, etc.) and specify the overall aims of the article. Diagnostic classification systems (ICD-11 and/or DSM 5), and the application of specific psychiatric techniques (e.g., telepsychiatry, assessment of infants/toddlers) should be delineated. A full description of the method, the systematic database search and search words used for the development of the guidance paper is recommended (see e.g. http://www.prisma-statement.org/); narrative reviews including a statement as to the selection of referenced articles are also welcome. For any specific recommendation, the strength and level of evidence should be stated. Possible cultural differences and relevance of the ESCAP Practical Guidance Article to all ESCAP member countries should be discussed. Finally and if applicable, international guidelines such as NICE, AACAP, other ESCAP and/or national guidelines should be referenced; the added value of the ESCAP Practical Guidance Article requires specification.
https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/our-programmes/nice-guidance
https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/evidence-services/journals-and-databases
