About JATR

JATR at a Glance

The Journal of Addiction Therapy and Research (JATR) is an online, open access medical journal that publishes high-quality manuscripts on substance use disorders, behavioral addictions and their treatment, prevention and policy responses. The journal is organized and hosted by Heighten Science Publications Inc. and serves as part of its medical group of journals, providing a dedicated platform for addiction research and clinical practice.

Mission and Vision

JATR exists to bridge the gap between addiction science and therapeutic practice. The journal’s mission is to:

• Promote rigorous, ethically conducted research on substance-related and behavioral addictions across the lifespan.
• Highlight therapies that are grounded in evidence and responsive to the lived realities of people with addiction.
• Support interdisciplinary dialogue between clinicians, researchers, community organizations and people with lived experience.
• Advance global, equitable access to addiction knowledge through a fully open access model.

The journal’s vision is a world in which addiction is addressed with compassion, scientific rigor and social justice—where research findings rapidly inform prevention programs, clinical guidelines, harm reduction strategies and recovery-oriented systems of care.

What the Journal Publishes

JATR welcomes submissions that illuminate the complex nature of addiction and its treatment, including both substance-related disorders (such as alcohol, opioids, stimulants, tobacco, cannabis and emerging psychoactive substances) and behavioral addictions (such as gambling, internet, gaming and compulsive behaviors).

Clinical and Therapeutic Research

A substantial portion of JATR’s content focuses on clinical interventions and therapeutic approaches, including:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and related psychotherapies for substance use disorders and relapse prevention.
• Motivational interviewing, contingency management and family-based interventions.
• Pharmacotherapy, including agonist and antagonist treatments and combined medication-psychotherapy models.
• Integrated care for co-occurring mental health conditions (e.g., depression, anxiety, PTSD, psychotic disorders).
• Novel or technology-assisted therapies, such as tele-addiction services, digital CBT, mobile apps and virtual support platforms.

Public Health, Policy and Community Perspectives

The journal actively encourages work that examines addiction as a public health and social phenomenon. Topics include:

• Epidemiology and patterns of alcohol, tobacco and drug use in different populations and regions.
• Social determinants of addiction, including poverty, housing insecurity, discrimination and trauma.
• Harm reduction services, including needle and syringe programs, supervised consumption facilities and overdose prevention.
• Public policies on decriminalization, regulation and treatment access, and their measured impacts.
• Community-based rehabilitation, peer-led support and recovery-oriented systems of care.

Special Populations and Contexts

JATR is particularly interested in under-represented and vulnerable populations, recognizing that addiction rarely occurs in isolation. Submissions may focus on:

• Adolescents and young adults, including school- and university-based prevention programs.
• Women and gender-diverse people, including perinatal substance use and caregiving roles.
• People experiencing homelessness, incarceration or migration-related vulnerabilities.
• Rural, remote and Indigenous communities where access to care may be limited.
• Digital behaviors, such as internet, gaming and social media addiction, and their intersection with mental health.

Readership and Community

JATR’s readership spans clinicians, researchers, policymakers, educators and advocates who share an interest in addiction and its treatment. Contributors and readers include:

• Addiction psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and counselors working in outpatient and inpatient settings.
• Public health practitioners designing prevention, screening and early intervention programs.
• Social workers, nurses, peer supporters and community health workers in rehabilitation and harm reduction services.
• Policy analysts and decision-makers shaping laws, funding models and national strategies for addiction services.
• Researchers in epidemiology, neuroscience, pharmacology, psychology and implementation science.

By publishing diverse article types and perspectives, JATR aims to be a shared knowledge hub where empirically grounded findings, practice wisdom and lived experience can inform each other.

Editorial and Peer Review Standards

JATR uses a double-blind peer review system, in which both authors and reviewers remain anonymous. Manuscripts are initially screened by the Editorial Office for relevance to the journal’s scope, ethical compliance and basic quality standards. Those that pass screening are assigned to editors and external reviewers with appropriate subject-matter expertise.

The editorial and review process is guided by internationally recognized standards from bodies such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). In practice, this means:

• Clear expectations regarding authorship, contributorship and conflicts of interest.
• Ethical oversight for studies involving human participants, including informed consent and institutional review approvals where required.
• Respectful, constructive peer review that focuses on scientific rigor and clarity rather than personal criticism.
• Editorial independence from commercial, political or institutional influence.

Open Access and Licensing

JATR operates under a fully open access model. All published articles are freely available online without subscription barriers. Readers anywhere in the world can read, download, print, share or reuse content in accordance with the journal’s license.

The journal uses the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Under this license:

• Authors retain copyright over their work.
• Readers and third parties may share and adapt the work for any lawful purpose, including commercial use.
• Appropriate credit must always be given to the original authors and the journal, and any changes must be indicated.

This licensing choice reflects JATR’s commitment to maximizing the reach and impact of addiction research, especially in low- and middle-income settings where subscription costs can limit access to vital information.

Digital Infrastructure, DOIs and Long-Term Preservation

JATR invests in robust digital infrastructure to ensure that articles remain discoverable, citable and preserved over the long term. Each article is:

• Assigned a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registered via Crossref, allowing stable citation and linking.
• Included in structured article metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, affiliations, keywords and references) to support indexing services and academic search engines.
• Archived in trusted repositories and preservation services to protect against data loss and long-term link rot.

The journal supports initiatives such as CrossMark and other version-of-record indicators so that readers can easily confirm whether an article has been corrected, updated or retracted. This contributes to transparency and trust in the scientific record.

History and Growth of the Journal

Since its launch as an online medical journal focusing on addiction, JATR has progressively expanded its scope and global author base. Over recent volumes, the journal has published contributions from a wide range of countries and settings, including:

• Studies on drug dependence and rehabilitation outcomes in community and residential treatment centers.
• Research on internet and technology-related addictions among university students and young adults.
• Qualitative and quantitative work on stigma, lived experience, leadership in recovery and resilience.
• Evaluations of substance use treatment programs and social return on investment (SROI) analyses for addiction-focused services.

Over time, JATR has become a platform for both early-career and established authors, with a particular emphasis on topics that are clinically meaningful and directly applicable to practice. The editorial team actively encourages submissions from under-represented regions and practitioner-researchers who work at the interface of clinical care and community engagement.

Benefits for Authors

Typical benefits reported by authors and highlighted by the journal include:

• Friendly, supportive communication from the Editorial Office throughout submission, review and production.
• Constructive peer review that aims to improve clarity, methodological rigor and practical relevance.
• Rapid online publication once an article is accepted and typeset.
• Global visibility through indexing services, search engines and open access dissemination.
• Compliance with funder mandates for open access publication and data-sharing where applicable.

The journal also encourages authors to:

• Include clear clinical implications and practice recommendations in their manuscripts.
• Share data, code or supplementary materials where ethically and legally feasible.
• Engage with wider audiences through summaries that are understandable to practitioners, policymakers and people with lived experience.

For Clinicians, Policymakers and Community Organizations

While JATR is a scholarly journal, it recognizes that many readers are primarily practitioners and decision-makers rather than academic researchers. The journal strives to:

• Highlight intervention outcomes and case examples that can inform everyday clinical decision-making.
• Provide accessible summaries of complex research designs and statistical findings.
• Offer perspectives on policy reforms, funding models and integrated service systems for addiction care.
• Showcase innovative programs from around the world, including those run by non-governmental organizations and community groups.

Community organizations, advocacy groups and people with lived experience are encouraged to collaborate with academic partners when developing submissions, ensuring that research questions and interpretations remain grounded in real-world needs.

Commitment to Ethics, Integrity and Equity

JATR is committed to upholding high ethical standards in all aspects of its operations. This includes:

• Adhering to COPE, ICMJE and WAME guidelines for handling allegations of misconduct, authorship disputes and corrections or retractions.
• Requiring transparency about funding sources and potential conflicts of interest.
• Encouraging inclusive citation practices and attention to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Promoting language that avoids stigma and respects the dignity of people with addiction.

The journal also recognizes the importance of data protection and privacy. Authors are expected to follow relevant data protection laws (for example, GDPR where applicable) and to de-identify participant information appropriately before submission.

How to Engage with JATR

There are many ways to connect with the Journal of Addiction Therapy and Research:

• As an author: Prepare and submit your manuscript through the journal’s online submission system, following the detailed Author Guidelines.
• As a reviewer: Experienced researchers and clinicians may be invited to review manuscripts. Expressions of interest can be sent to the Editorial Office.
• As an editor or guest editor: Proposals for special issues, thematic collections or supplements on emerging topics in addiction therapy are welcome.
• As a reader: Subscribe to RSS feeds, share articles with colleagues and incorporate evidence into teaching, policy and practice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)