Happy anniversary IJMHN

2022 marks three auspicious anniversaries for the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing (IJMHN). The DNA of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing can be traced back to July 1978, when the idea of a professional journal was first mooted by a working party of the then-fledgling Australian Congress of Mental Health Nurses (Martyr 1999). The discussions had turned into action by September 1980 when the Journal of the Australian Congress of Mental Health Nurses was published with an editorial and two original articles (Martyr 1999). The inaugural editor was Dennis Cowell (1980–82), who was succeeded by Ron Dee (1982–85), Owen Sollis (1986–87), Linda Salomons (1987–88), and Andrew King (1988–90) (Martyr 1999, appendix 4). The Journal of the Australian Congress of Mental Health Nurses was not refereed, which was seen to be a barrier to attracting scholarly papers (Martyr 1999). At a September 1989 meeting of the Australian Congress of Mental Health Nurses, it was decided that the journal should change name and editorial structure (Martyr 1999). Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Australian Journal of Mental Health Nursing was published in September 1990 as the official journal of the Australian Congress of Mental Health Nurses (National Library of Australia NLA n.d. 1). Unfortunately, despite the change of name and revitalized editorial structure, the Australian Journal of Mental Health Nursing struggled to attract scholarly articles (Martyr 1999). Coinciding with this, by September 1991, the ‘Australian Congress of Mental Health Nurses’ had transitioned to become the ‘Australian College of Mental Health Nurses’ with a view to improve professional identity and recognition (Martyr 1999). The birth of the journal as we know it is best defined as July 1992 (volume 2, issue 2). This marks when the Australian Journal of Mental Health Nursing was re-launched as a fully refereed journal while under the editorial guidance of Michael Clinton from 1990 to 1998 (Hazelton 2001; Martyr 1999). It is reported that Clinton cited the ‘increasing sophistication of mental health nursing’, together with the need to attract more quality papers, as the impetus for improving the academic rigour of the journal (Hazelton 2001, p. 199). This marked what Philippa Martyr (1999, p. 27) described as ‘sea change’ – the journal's layout, the quality of articles, the astuteness of comment on mental health issues, and the journal's credibility had all improved. Reflecting the development of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses as a trans-Tasman organization, from June 1994 (volume 3, issue 2) the journal became known as the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing (NLA n.d. 2; Hazelton 2001). The journal retained this name up to and including the December 2001 issue (NLA n.d. 2; Hazelton 2001), with Michael Hazelton taking over as editor from 1999 (Martyr 1999). From March 2002 (volume 11, issue 1), the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing was rebadged as the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing (IJMHN) (NLA n.d. 3). In conjunction with change of name came a change in format and the size of each issue (Hazelton 2001). The updated title also recognized the journal's increasing relevance to international mental health nursing scholarship, and that quality mental health nursing care is a global issue (Clinton 2002). The new nomenclature reflected the increasingly international scope of both contributors and subscribers to the journal (Hazelton 2001). These observations were borne-out further over time; by 2006, half of all submissions to the journal came from countries other than New Zealand and Australia (Happell 2007). Michael Hazelton ended his tenure as IJMHN chief editor in 2004 (Hazelton 2004). He was succeeded by Brenda Happell who held the post from 2004 to 2014 (Happell 2014). During this period, the volume and quality of submissions increased significantly, so from 2007 (volume 16), the frequency of IJMHN publication was increased from every 3 months to every 2 months (Happell 2007). Since February 2015 (volume 24), the IJMHN chief editor has been Kim Usher (Usher Happell 2014; Usher McNamara Fig. 4). Reflecting on the three anniversaries described above can serve as a catalyst for imagination and inspiration for the future. What other changes to the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing would you like to see in 10, 20, or 30 years? How else can individual mental health nurses make their work more visible? What can we all do to promote our profession, and create an environment where specialist mental health nursing is readily recognizable and respected by people who are not mental health nurses? Website www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/INM Twitter twitter.com/IJMHN Facebook www.facebook.com/IJMHN LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/IJMHN Thanks to Alison Bell, Editorial Office Manager at Wiley for providing the historical Impact Factor data use in Figure 2. Thanks to Emma Rieger (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-rieger-02349532) for her graphic design skills in the Figure 3 timeline.