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Call for papers - Psychoactives: Recreational drugs repurposed as novel therapies

Guest Editors

Riccardo De Giorgi, MD, DPhil, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Agata Faron-Górecka, PhD, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Jibran Khokhar, PhD, Western University, Canada
Francisco Navarrete Rueda, PhD, Miguel Hernández University, Spain
Getinet Ayano Yaya, PhD, Curtin University, Australia

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 27 June 2025 


BMC Medicine is calling for submissions to our Collection on Psychoactive substances. The use of psychedelics, cannabinoids, opioids and other mind-altering substances, presents complex challenges and opportunities in the field of medicine and public health. Research encompasses a wide range of topics, including the biochemical effects of these compounds, potential therapeutic applications, and the societal impact of controlled or aberrant use. This Collection seeks to clarify confusing issues, move the needle forward, and make an impact guiding psychoactive researchers, clinicians, and policymakers.


New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Meet the Guest Editors

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Riccardo De Giorgi, MD, DPhil, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Dr Riccardo De Giorgi is a Clinical Lecturer in General Adult Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. He conducts experimental medicine studies for the repurposing of drugs with immuno-metabolic activity (e.g., statins, GLP1-RAs) in mental disorders. His research is informed by collaborative projects in evidence synthesis and pharmacoepidemiology with several other research teams both within the same department and internationally. By looking at early markers of response, such as neuropsychological changes in emotional processing, reward, and general cognition, as well as immunometabolic peripheral markers, his work aims to validate the use of these drugs in further clinical trials.

Agata Faron-Górecka, PhD, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

Dr Faron-Górecka is an Associate Professor at the Maj Institute of Pharmacology in Krakow, where she investigates the mechanisms of treatment-resistant depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Her research focuses on identifying endogenous markers of stress resilience, depression, and treatment-resistant depression. She integrates advanced behavioral techniques with cutting-edge biochemical and molecular tools to conduct comprehensive studies of these complex processes. In her research, she places particular emphasis on the development of innovative therapeutic strategies, including exploring the effects of psilocybin in treatment-resistant depression.

Jibran Khokhar, PhD, Western University, Canada

Dr Jibran Khokhar completed his undergraduate training at Queen’s University, and his PhD in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Dr Rachel Tyndale. Dr Khokhar held a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship as well as NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Dr Khokhar was recently hired as an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Translational Neuropsychopharmacology in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Schulich School of Medicine at Western University. Dr Khokhar's research seeks to establish the behavioral and neural correlations between various types of vulnerabilities to substance use, starting from genetic risk to effects on development. He is also very interested in the pharmacokinetics of various routes of drug exposure, and has established tools and methods to study emerging routes of administration such as vaping and edibles.

Francisco Navarrete Rueda, PhD, Miguel Hernández University, Spain

Dr Francisco Navarrete Rueda is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Paediatrics, and Organic Chemistry of the Miguel Hernandez University. He also works in the laboratory of Translational Neuropsychopharmacology of Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders in the Neuroscience Institute (UMH-CSIC). He has participated in 23 Spanish research grants and 1 European project (TrePsy, Twinning, Horizon Europe) and he has recently received funding from the National Plan on Drugs (Ministry of Health, Spain) to develop a grant as principal investigator (2024-2026). Dr Rueda is an author of more than 67 articles in indexed journals mostly of the first quartile (25 h-index). His research is focused on studying endocannabinoid system components alterations to identify potential biomarkers and to evaluate its therapeutic exploitation for improving the management of several brain disorders, particularly drug addiction.

Getinet Ayano Yaya, PhD, Curtin University, Australia

Dr Getinet Ayano Yaya is a distinguished mental health professional and epidemiologist at Curtin University's School of Population Health. With a PhD, MSc, and BSc (Hon), he has published over 130 research articles focusing on mental health, physical health, substance use disorders, and crime. His work has significantly impacted global and national health policies. Dr Yaya brings extensive expertise in mental health interventions, suicide prevention, and public health. He also mentors PhD students and advises international health organizations, reflecting his broad knowledge and experience in these critical areas.

About the Collection

BMC Medicine is calling for submissions to our Collection on psychoactive substances. The use of psychedelics, cannabinoids, opioids, and other mind-altering substances, present complex challenges and opportunities in the field of medicine and public health. Research encompasses a wide range of topics, including the biochemical effects of these compounds, potential therapeutic applications, and the societal impact of controlled or aberrant use.

Encouraging clinical trials and translational research are (re)proposing psychoactive substances as potential treatments for a variety of psychiatric illnesses, including but not limited to PTSD, mood, and addictive disorders. Medical cannabis shows potential in treating pain, hyperemesis, and neurological diseases. Recent advances in this field have led to a deeper understanding of the neuropsychopharmacological mechanisms of psychedelics, as well as their potential benefits in conditions such as chronic pain, mental health, and inflammatory disorders. 

Research has highlighted the need for comprehensive harm reduction strategies to address safe access and toxicity issues. Some psychoactive molecules were long classified as illegal drugs, but more recently have reemerged in the context of  global mental health and the limitations of available treatment. This area of preclinical and clinical research is pressing for governments and medical regulators, as pioneering studies suggest that psychoactive substances could be used as future transdiagnostic interventions. 

Conversely, the use of psychoactive substances comes with significant risks. Physical and mental adverse events, challenges with identifying appropriate placebos/control interventions, and addiction itself remain a major concern. Examples include established medicines, such as opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines, groundbreaking at the time of their discovery but have now been shown to have poor safety profiles.  

Scientific debate in this respect is highy polarized, with experts, media, and public opinion often proposing extreme views regarding the risks and benefits of the use of these compounds. To avoid wasting a significant opportunity for the development or repurposing of psychoactive substances in brain and physical health, a careful consideration of the balance between therapeutic and harmful effects must be drawn.

This Collection asks where psychoactive research goes from this current inflection point. Can the promise of psychoactives be understood to inform evidence-based policies and clinical practice? This Collection seeks to clarify confusing issues, move the needle forward, and make an impact guiding psychoactive researchers, clinicians, and policymakers.

We welcome front-end content, Reviews, Commentaries, and Debates, research including clinical trials, cohort studies, and meta-analyses that investigate psychoactive substances, their impact, and potential therapeutic applications, especially the following topics:

  • Controlled interventions testing the therapeutic potential of psychoactive substances
  • Biochemical, computational, and/or translational models exploring the neural mechanisms of psychoactives
  • Drug development of new or repurposed pharmacological agents with clinical potential
  • Societal and regulatory implications of psychoactive use, especially on mental health, medicalization, and addiction risks
  • Lived experiences detailing nuanced, considered reflections on the dangers yet potential of psychoactives in science and culture
  • Big data epidemiology to study regional/national trends in psychoactive substance use, treatment outcomes, and public health impacts
  • Harm reduction methods to mitigate adverse outcomes (e.g. regulated injection spaces, drug testing)
  • Emerging data on the potential safety concerns of established psychoactives, either approved medicines (e.g. benzodiazepines) or intoxicants (e.g. alcohol, nicotine products)
  • Cannabis and its impact on safety and health outcomes, including roles in pain management, addiction, and mental health
  • Addressing the opioid use epidemic: new treatment alternatives, prevention strategies, and public health responses



This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Image credit: © Deep Roots / Stock.adobe.com

  1. Vaping prevalence has increased rapidly in England since 2021. This study estimated trends between 2013 and 2024 in vaping among ex-smokers, overall and among those who did not use e-cigarettes to support thei...

    Authors: Sarah E. Jackson, Jamie Brown, Loren Kock and Lion Shahab
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2024 22:503
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. This study aimed to characterise patterns of tobacco smoking and vaping among older adults (≥ 65 years) in England, to explore harm perceptions of e-cigarettes among those who smoke, and to estimate the real-w...

    Authors: Sarah E. Jackson, Jamie Brown, Lion Shahab and Sharon Cox
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2024 22:500
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a significant public health concern, yet there is no internationally agreed set of diagnostic criteria or summary of underlying evidence to inform diagnostic decision-...

    Authors: Lisa K. Akison, Nicole Hayes, Chelsea Vanderpeet, Jayden Logan, Zachary Munn, Philippa Middleton, Karen M. Moritz and Natasha Reid
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2024 22:467
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is commonly used in clinical settings to assess the severity of alcohol-related problems, with the effectiveness of alcohol reduction interventions varying...

    Authors: Shohei Dobashi, Kyoko Kawaida, Go Saito, Yukiko Owaki and Hisashi Yoshimoto
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2024 22:424
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Physical symptoms and aversion induced by opioid withdrawal strongly affect the management of opioid addiction. YTH N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA binding protein 1 (YTHDF1), an m6A-binding protein, from the periaq...

    Authors: Chaopeng Ou, Kun Zhang, Yanyu Mu, Zhenzhen Huang, Xile Li, Wan Huang, Yan Wang, Weian Zeng and Handong Ouyang
    Citation: BMC Medicine 2024 22:406
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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BMC Medicine encourages submissions of front matter articles and original research, including clinical trials (phase I-III, randomized-controlled, either positive or negative trials), epidemiological studies (retrospective or prospective), systematic reviews and meta-analyses, -omics, medical imaging, genomics studies and translational research. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines.

Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection; please select "Psychoactives" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.