For its first five years, the journal was published by the British Medical Association; subsequently, Cambridge University Press assumed publication.

He defined psychological medicine as including not only psychiatry, but also the study of abnormal behaviour.

He concentrated on original high-quality works across the wide spectrum of both psychiatry and its allied disciplines.

Shepherd contributed extensively himself, investing much time and care towards the journal's success.

[2] According to his successor, Psychological Medicine was to become perhaps Shepherd's greatest and most enduring creation set in an already highly distinguished academic and research career.