Dear ISSM Member,

It has come to our attention that a sizeable majority of the ISSM membership has received emails again in the last 1-2 weeks soliciting submissions. In some cases, you may also have received an invitation to sit on the Editorial Board. The title of this journal is almost identical to our own flagship journal, the Journal of Sexual Medicine (JSM) while also mimicking the title of our Open Access journal Sexual Medicine.

We wish to stress these emails, despite the similarity of the journal title, are not referring to an official ISSM publication. Indeed, of great concern, it seems that the journal in question is quite possibly what is termed a predatory journal. Troublingly, the publisher of this supposed journal is listed on the Beall’s List as a “potential, possible, or probable predatory scholarly open-access publisher." The Beall’s List (www.scholarlyoa.com) is the most commonly referenced source of information on journals and publishers that seek payment to publish articles but then fail to provide industry standard peer review, indexing, archiving and production. Make no mistake: Any article you publish in such a journal will never be considered a valid publication and indeed, publication, in such a journal may seriously undermine your reputation.

The Journal of Sexual Medicine has published an editorial written by Dr. Jason Roberts, on what predatory journals are and how to spot them. We urge you to read it to understand the damage predatory journals do to authors and readers alike. It represents an informative read and can be found here.

To be clear, for any of the 3 ISSM journals, you will only ever receive manuscript solicitation or commission emails from the Editors-in-Chief or their editorial office team. As a reminder, the details are as follows:

The Journal of Sexual Medicine
Editor: Dr. John Mulhall
Editorial office staff: Tim Vines, Denise Gibson, Donna Schena

Sexual Medicine (Open Access)
Editor: Dr. Alan Shindel
Editorial office staff: Tim Vines

Sexual Medicine Reviews
Editor: Dr. Irwin Goldstein
Editorial office staff: Sue Goldstein

If you have any questions or concerns, please do direct them to Tim Vines at jsm@issm.info.

Sincerely,

Annamaria Giraldi,
President, ISSM

John Mulhall, MD
Editor, The Journal of Sexual Medicine

Bibliotherapy might be an effective way to help patients with sexual problems, according to a recent Journal of Sexual Medicine review.

The study authors recommended further research. 

Bibliotherapy uses printed materials, such as books and pamphlets, as a therapy protocol. Patients may undergo bibliotherapy by choosing materials on their own (unassisted), or they may read items that their therapist recommends (assisted). 

The review included 15 studies published between 1970 and 2020. Overall, there were 1,113 participants. 

Compared to no treatment, unassisted bibliotherapy had benefits for men and women. Assisted bibliotherapy seemed to benefit women more than men. 

When both types of bibliotherapy were compared to other interventions, there were no differences for men and women, the authors said.

Read more about the study.