Nomination Process
To develop new practice guidelines, the American Psychiatric Association formally surveys expert consensus panels about interventions that may be recommended. Survey data augment findings from systematic reviews of available published evidence, including from clinical trials.
Panels are composed of two categories of individuals: clinical experts and research/scholarly experts. Both are peer‐identified through a blind nomination process. Clinical experts are psychiatrists with substantial experience in the clinical care of patients with psychiatric disorders. Research/scholarly experts are individuals who are making substantial contributions with respect to psychiatric research and/or scholarly writing. An individual may be considered expert in both categories.
Nominations for the panels are collected by "snowball" method, i.e., nominated experts are asked to nominate other experts.
More information about the guideline development process is available in the document, New APA Guideline Development Process (updated 2011) (PDF).
Current expert consensus panels
The APA has one panel formed for guidelines on the Psychiatric Evaluation of Adults.
FAQ
How can I participate in the nomination process?
Only individuals who receive an invitation to submit nominations may participate.
How can I participate on an expert consensus panel?
You must be nominated as a clinical expert or a research/scholarly expert. In addition, even if you are nominated, you must be selected for a consensus survey. Depending on the number of individuals nominated, selection may be random, or specific criteria may be applied, such as number of nominations received or number of recent publications.
Can I nominate myself?
Although we understand that you may be an expert yourself, self-nomination is not permitted.
Will the individuals I nominate know that I nominated them?
No, APA will keep your nominations anonymous. You may, however, inform individuals yourself that you nominated them.
What will participation on the expert consensus panel include?
Experts selected for the panel from the pool of nominees will receive an online survey asking for their opinion about specific psychiatric interventions. There will be no meetings or travel involved. Participants will be acknowledged on guideline publication.
Where can I find APA practice guidelines?
APA guidelines are published on PsychiatryOnline.org. Please note that our existing guidelines were developed using a process that did not involve surveys of expert consensus panels.