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How our Lived Experience Advisory Board has shaped PLOS Mental Health

PLOS Mental Health Mental Health
Credit: Franz26, Pixabay

This year, PLOS Mental Health launched the pilot for a Lived Experience Focus Group. 13 inspiring and generous advocates agreed to take part, having identified the potential value of being involved with this group. As a journal, we are constantly engaging with the community and trying to think of ways through which the voice of lived experience can shape our development and therefore help to drive progress in the field. Some ways work better than others and we are continually reviewing the ways in which we engage with the community. With respect to this group, it was crucial to the journal not just to listen to their feedback and suggestions, but to identify action points and to deliver them. This blog post runs through some of the initiatives and content from PLOS Mental Health this year that have been a direct result of the focus group, which will now be referred to as our Lived Experience Advisory Board. 

Thumbnails of focus group members
Image credit

PLOS/Karli Montague-Cardoso

Accessibility

Ensuring that our messaging and the content of our authors is accessible to the communities that it aims to support is key and something that was indeed reiterated by our board. Whilst some changes will require long-term planning and implementation, we have already started to introduce various ways in which we try to share content more effectively.

In July we launched a new quarterly blog series: ‘PLOS Mental Health Press Recap’, in which we will run through our press released articles and others, which appeared to be of greatest interest to readers. The beauty of the press released papers is that non-specialist summaries were already carefully and intentionally crafted by our press team in collaboration with our Executive Editor so that the key take-home of the article was clearly communicated along with any limitations and caveats. The Lived Experience Advisory Board pointed to the value of such content in terms of accessibility.

Accessibility is not just about technology and language but also about context. When articles are considered in isolation, their message can only go so far. This is why our Executive Editor launched her weekly LinkedIn newsletter. Not only does this offer a regular avenue through which content in the journal can be discussed in more accessible language, but it can also be put into context – in particular, relative to other content within the journal. In doing so, the newsletter aims to build up a bigger picture of the field and not just isolated snapshots for its readers.

Social Media Engagement

Image credit: Pixabay

Engaging effectively and ethically on social media is a time investment. With so much being accessed online, the information must be accurate and sensitive. As our advisory board pointed out, during the digital age when misinformation is rife, journals have a responsibility to engage on platforms that reach all communities – not just academic platforms.

PLOS Mental Health has grown on LinkedIn this year and has also launched its Bluesky account. Whilst these were plans that were made independently of the board, the nature of engagement has been very much shaped by it. In addition to the newsletter serving as a platform for non-specialist discussion, we also use a variety of media to improve accessibility. The journal has been, and will continue to focus on visual information – whether that is in the form of seminars or schematics. With respect to the former, we have shared the following:

Whilst the expansion of social media presence is something that may come in the future, in the meantime, the group has certainly helped to transform existing social media approaches. 

Priority Topics

A central part of our mission is making sure that we represent all communities. The board pointed to a variety of priority topics that the journal should be highlighting and we have already begun to do this. For instance, we featured content in the journal in honor of Pride Month and World Refugee Week. We have also published content that gives a voice to the communities identified by the group. Such content includes:

We have also tried to highlight and grow our ‘Socio-Economics and Political Approaches’ section, which is relatively unique to PLOS Mental Health and captures many of the priority topics identified by this group. As well as sharing more about Dr Soumitra Pathare, one of the leads of this section, we also welcomed Dr Cristian Montenegro to the journal. We are looking forward to seeing this section develop in 2026.

Regional Outreach

Reaching communities in different parts of the world and engaging with them should be about more than promoting the journal. We should also be learning from them and responding accordingly and the group reiterated the importance of this. As a result of some discussion with the group, the journal is pleased to announce that it has launched an Academic Editor Focus Group. More information on this group will follow but in short, the group consists of Academic Editors from different regions and with different expertise. The group carefully discusses regional variations in terms of Open Science, ethics and research practices, and publication barriers. The group has had their first round of meetings and clear action points have been identified for delivery in 2026. 

Other outreach plans, in addition to site visits across all regions, are in the pipeline as a direct result of the Lived Experience Advisory Board and these will be shared in due course.

Supporting ECRs and Advocates

The board also clearly emphasized the importance of not just encouraging submissions from ECRs and advocates but supporting them with their submissions. As a result, the journal published a three-part blog series, which provided tips for authors who may not have extensive experience with academic writing. This series included:

Grey laptop next to a blank notebook on a brown, wooden desk.
Image Credit: StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

For Peer Review Week earlier in the year, the journal also held a peer review workshop. This workshop was hosted live for ECRs/advocates across all regions and is now freely available as a resource for anyone who may be interested in gaining experience as a reviewer, or for understanding what reviewers may be looking for, which can inform their manuscript preparation.

Looking Ahead

Our Lived Experience Advisory Board gave the journal so many ideas, but also reassurances. There is plenty more on the cards for 2026. As 2025 was a pilot, we invited our group members to remain for one more year, and they were very happy to agree. We are incredibly grateful to this group and look forward to collaborating more with them in 2026 in existing ways and in new ways, that they themselves have informed.

Our heartfelt thanks to this wonderful group of experts who have been instrumental to the voice of PLOS Mental Health in 2025 and beyond. 

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