Infant Mental Health Journal

Aims & Scope

The Infant Mental Health Journal (IMHJ) is the official publication of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) and the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) and is copyrighted by MI-AIMH.

The Infant Mental Health Journal publishes peer-reviewed research articles, literature reviews, program descriptions/evaluations, theoretical/conceptual papers and brief reports (clinical case studies and novel pilot studies) that focus on early social and emotional development and characteristics that influence social-emotional development from relationship-based perspectives.

Examples of such influences include attachment relationships, early relationship development, caregiver-infant interactions, infant and early childhood mental health services, contextual and cultural influences on infant/toddler/child and family development, including parental/caregiver psychosocial characteristics and attachment history, prenatal experiences, and biological characteristics in interaction with relational environments that promote optimal social-emotional development or place it at higher risk.

Research published in IMHJ focuses on the prenatal-age 5 period and employs relationship-based perspectives in key research questions and interpretation and implications of findings.

View Aims & Scope

---

Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	2
2024	2.10

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	3433

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	3290

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	1.224

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q1

h-index

Year	Value
2024	86

---

---

Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

---

Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Medicine and Psychology, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

---

Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation, and “use-dependent” development of the brain: How “states” become “traits”

  Citation: 809

  Authors: Bruce D., Ronnie A., Toi L., William L., Domenico

• Effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health

  Citation: 738

  Authors: Allan N.

• The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment

  Citation: 710

  Authors: Peter, Miriam, Howard, George S., Anna C.

• The effects of early relational trauma on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health

  Citation: 627

  Authors: Allan N.

• The nurse–family partnership: An evidence‐based preventive intervention

  Citation: 536

  Authors: David L.

• Toward a synactive theory of development: Promise for the assessment and support of infant individuality

  Citation: 468

  Authors: Heidelise

• Maternal self‐efficacy beliefs, competence in parenting, and toddlers' behavior and developmental status

  Citation: 394

  Authors: Priscilla K., Katherine Hildebrandt

• Infant–mother and infant–father synchrony: The coregulation of positive arousal

  Citation: 391

  Authors: Ruth

• Toward an interpersonal neurobiology of the developing mind: Attachment relationships, ?mindsight,? and neural integration

  Citation: 349

  Authors: Daniel J.

• The disturbed caregiving system: Relations among childhood trauma, maternal caregiving, and infant affect and attachment

  Citation: 320

  Authors: Karlen, Deborah

---