Choice of outcome measures in mental health research

Measurements represent one of the most dysfunctional aspects of current mental health research. With so many measures in use and little consensus on their meaning, tangible clinical benefits of mental health research continue to largely elude our field. As we wrote in a recent Editorial, 1 Lancet PsychiatryA good enough measure. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; 7: 825 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar developing a mental health science for the future necessitates substantial change. The Lancet Psychiatry will now therefore require authors of research Articles to provide a brief statement in their Methods section with the subheading "Choice of primary outcome measure". Here, we provide an explanation of what information we will request, and how we hope it will benefit authors, reviewers, and readers of our journal.