About Sucht

Sucht

Sucht is the German-language scientific journal for addiction research and addiction care, subtitled "Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Praxis." Its DOI prefix 10.1024/0939-5911 identifies its articles in the international citation system, and its volumes are shelved in the DHS library's reference collection in Hamm. Published six times a year by the Hogrefe Verlag, it is the journal of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Suchtforschung und Suchttherapie (DG-Sucht), whose presidents have included Wilhelm Feuerlein, Karl Mann, Anil Batra, and, since the 2022 decision to fill the presidency with two persons, the dual leadership of Eva Hoch and Falk Kiefer since 2023. Its editor-in-chief is Prof. Dr. Anil Batra of the University Hospital Tübingen. The journal's history reaches back through the Suchtgefahren of the Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen to the international anti-alcoholism journals of the early twentieth century.

Overview

Sucht appears six times a year in the Hogrefe publishing house, in print and online via Hogrefe eContent. Subscriptions run annually from the next issue and are valid until cancelled; for individual customers, online access to the subscribed journal is included in the annual subscription rate, while institutional customers can choose between print-only, e-only, and print-and-online options. The journal addresses the science and practice of addiction: epidemiology, prevention, treatment, and research on substance-related and behavioral addictions, from the molecular to the societal level, and its contributions are meant to speak to the various medical specialties involved in addiction care. Its readership is addiction researchers, clinicians, therapists, and policymakers in the German-speaking world, including the members of the DG-Sucht and the professionals of the DHS member associations, as well as the staff of counseling centers, clinics, and rehabilitation facilities. The 2027 subscription prices are CHF 238 for individuals (CHF 215 e-only) and from CHF 382 for institutions, with single issues at CHF 66, shipping costs not included.

The journal's volumes document the field's development: volume 68 (2022) addressed whether smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity changed during the COVID-19 restrictions; volume 69 (2023) examined the lockdown's effects on alcohol consumption behavior; volume 70 (2024) covered addiction in old age and the DHS scientific board's recommendations on dealing with alcohol. The DHS library's literature lists cite the journal's articles continuously, from epidemiology to therapy research. The Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen (DHS) of Hamm, whose website is the row's listed address, maintains an extensive library whose literature lists cite the journal's articles continuously.

History

The journal's lineage begins with the Internationale Monatsschrift zur Erforschung des Alkoholismus und Bekämpfung der Trinksitten, the international monthly for alcoholism research and the fight against drinking customs, discontinued with its 29th volume. In 1922 publication resumed as the trilingual Revue internationale contre l'alcoolisme / Internationale Zeitschrift gegen den Alkoholismus / International Review against alcoholism, appearing every two months and continuing the volume count seamlessly from the 30th volume of its predecessor. That journal was discontinued in 1943 with its 51st volume, and the eleven-year gap until the Suchtgefahren relaunch reflects the caesura of the war and the immediate postwar years.

In 1955 the Deutsche Hauptstelle gegen die Suchtgefahren (DHS) relaunched the tradition as Suchtgefahren, with Hans Seidel, the DHS's managing director, as first editor-in-chief, deliberately connecting to the tradition of the Internationale Zeitschrift gegen den Alkoholismus while publishing only in German. The journal initially appeared quarterly with 120 pages per volume, later returning to the bimonthly rhythm with 400 pages per volume. While the early volumes focused on alcohol addiction, contributions on tobacco dependence soon followed, including a 1955 article by Fritz Lickint, a pioneer of tobacco risk research, on the medicinal support of tobacco cessation courses, an early sign of the journal's broadening from alcohol to all addictions. Over time the journal became Sucht, the journal for science and practice, published by Hogrefe as the organ of the DG-Sucht, the German society for addiction research and addiction therapy founded in 1978, whose history has itself been documented in the journal's pages.

Coverage and Content

Sucht publishes original research, reviews, and practice-oriented contributions on addiction: alcohol, tobacco, drugs, medication, gambling, and non-substance-related behavioral disorders such as pathological gambling. The DHS itself opened over time to associations and organizations whose main tasks lie in the research and prevention as well as the treatment of dependence and non-substance-related behavioral disorders, and the journal's scope followed that broadening. The journal bridges science and practice, addressing researchers and practitioners alike, and its subtitle program of "Wissenschaft und Praxis" is reflected in contributions that range from epidemiology to therapy organization. Its volumes reflect the field's current questions: the pandemic's impact on consumption behavior, cannabis policy and the implementation of the cannabis law, addiction in the elderly, opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines in old age, and the scientific foundations of prevention policy.

Organization and Ownership

Sucht is published by the Hogrefe Verlag and is the journal of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Suchtforschung und Suchttherapie (DG-Sucht), the specialist society that also awards an annual research prize to young scientists and, jointly with the Oberberg Foundation and the German Addiction Foundation, the Wilhelm Feuerlein Research Prize for scientific work in addiction medicine. The editor-in-chief is Prof. Dr. Anil Batra, of the Section for Addiction Research and Addiction Medicine at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076 Tübingen. Batra, who also presided over the DG-Sucht from 2010 to 2014, embodies the journal's bridge between clinical addiction medicine and research. The DHS of Hamm, at Westenwall 4, 59065 Hamm, is the central German institution for addiction questions and the historical publisher of the Suchtgefahren tradition. Formed in 1947 as the Hauptarbeitsgemeinschaft zur Abwehr der Suchtgefahren and registered in 1955 as the Deutsche Hauptstelle gegen die Suchtgefahren, it gives the institutional umbrella to organizations of addiction prevention and addiction care, works with federal authorities, social insurance bodies, and other central institutions, realizes international cooperation projects, and has made public relations a core task. Financial details are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is the Hogrefe eContent platform, where articles are published with DOIs, including open-access articles such as the 2024 study on tobacco smoking and SARS-CoV-2. Single online issues can be purchased on the platform, with buyers asked to specify the desired volume and issue number, and single print issues can be ordered subject to availability. The DHS website presents the institution's work, its library with its regularly updated literature lists on topics from addiction in the corona pandemic to addiction in old age, and its publications, including the DHS Yearbook of Addiction published by Pabst Science Publishers in Lengerich. The journal's articles are indexed in the scientific databases, and its long volume history makes it a primary source for the historiography of German addiction policy, from the temperance era through the postwar reconstruction of addiction care to the present.

The Journal of Addiction Science

From the anti-alcoholism monthlies of the early 1900s through the Suchtgefahren era to today's Hogrefe journal, Sucht has chronicled German addiction science for more than a century, a continuity few medical journals can claim. As the DG-Sucht's journal, it remains the bridge between addiction research and addiction practice, serving the clinicians, researchers, and policymakers who shape Germany's response to addiction in its many forms.