In this issue

The review by Yin and Yuan that starts this issue considers the current state of research about the neuroimaging of depressive disorders in China. China has come rather late to this field so the currently available research is plagued by a lack of standardization of methods, small sample sizes, failure to integrate structural and functional methodologies, and an overemphasis on cross-sectional instead of longitudinal designs. Nevertheless, there have been some important contributions to the international literature by Chinese authors, including the observations that a) the decreased volumes in the prefrontal cortex, orbital frontal cortex and hippocampus observed in depressed patients are more obvious among females and b) the increased volume of the medial prefrontal cortex among individuals with depression is associated with cognitive decline. There are also some issues in which the Chinese research directly contradicts findings from high-income countries: Chinese researchers report that elderly depressed patients with depression have increased (not decreased) volume of the anterior cingulated cortex; and Chinese researchers consider dysfunctional connectivity in the default-mode network more important in the relapse of depression than the abnormalities in the cerebellum that have been reported by Western researchers. To increase the international footprint of Chinese research in this important area there needs to be a re-focusing of the research effort on fewer studies with larger samples that use longitudinal designs to assess the temporal relationships between episodes of depression and changes in the structure and functioning of the brain.