From impact factor to human factor: the rise of humanness in the age of intelligent machines

It has been 4 years since we launched npj Mental Health Research as a venue for high-quality and innovative research on mental health. We are very grateful to our hard-working editorial staff, prestigious editorial board members, pioneering authors, and expert reviewers who have volunteered their time to support the journal to reach its current success. This year (2026), we were excited to learn that the journal achieved a first impact factor of 9.1, making it one of the top 10 journals in Psychiatry by Journal Impact Factor (JIF). The Journal’s articles were downloaded over one million times in 2025, further demonstrating its reach and is a credit to everybody’s work. This milestone arrives at a moment when artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligence machines are rapidly transforming the field we serve and it is impossible to ignore their emergence. These technologies are poised to reshape mental health research, care delivery, and the very nature of human experience. While AI offers unprecedented tools for diagnosis, prediction, and intervention, it also raises profound questions about what aspects of behavioral health care will remain fundamentally human. Therefore, we take this opportunity to reflect with our readership about the role of these technologies on the future of mental health and the importance of our adaption and evolution to truly keep “humans-in-the-loop.”