A TRIBUTE TO THE MEDICAL COUNCIL ON ALCOHOLISM, ITS JOURNAL AND THEIR SUPPORTERS AS WE ENTER THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Abdulla A.-B. Badawy and Keith F. Tipton

Happy 2000 to all our readers, contributors, dedicated members of the Editorial Team and Editorial Advisory Board, and our expert independent referees, and to members, officers and staff of the Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA), the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ESBRA), and our publisher, Oxford University Press (OUP). The new millennium is upon us and, as we promised last year (Badawy and Tipton, 1999Go), we consider it appropriate at this important landmark of the Christian (Western) Calendar to review the history of Alcohol and Alcoholism and its progress, and, in doing so, to pay tribute to its parent organization, the MCA, and to those individuals who have been instrumental in the development of both parent and child and their supporters.

The reader of this issue will see that invited special articles have been written, among which one (Nordmann, 2000Go) on ESBRA by its founding President Professor Roger Nordmann and another (Evans, 2000Go) on the MCA and its journal by the second of the journal Editors, Dr Myrddin Evans, in which he gives his particular thoughts on key issues in alcohol research and on those he considers important for the continuing development of the journal. Our main task here will therefore be to complement these two contributions, and indeed those by Professor Karl Mann (holder of the first Chair in Addiction Research in Germany) and his colleagues, on the history of alcohol research and treatment in the twentieth century (Mann et al., 2000Go) and by Dr Adriaan Potgieter on the activities of another European organization concerned with alcoholism research and treat-ment, the Plinius Maior Society (Potgieter, 2000Go), with our own ‘observer’ view of the MCA, specially from the journal perspective.

At the national (British) level, the development of Alcohol and Alcoholism and its parent organization the MCA, has been a continuous and very interesting success story, the credit for which goes to many persons, some of whom have departed this life, whereas others are still alive and well and we wish them all continued good health and prosperity. It would be both futile and incomplete if we were to attempt to name all those to whom this journal owes its existence and success, but one cannot proceed without singling out a few such persons. The first person is Professor Griffith Edwards, the distinguished Editor-in-Chief of the oldest substance misuse journal ‘Addiction’, who in 1962 suggested the need to produce a Bulletin under the aegis of the Camberwell Council on Alcoholism in south London. The second person and perhaps the most central figure in this context is the late Dr Herbert D. Chalke, founding Editor of our journal. As the then Medical Officer of Health for the Camberwell Council on Alcoholism, Dr Chalke produced the first Bulletin in June 1963 and the first printed Bulletin on 25 May 1965, the launch of which at BMA (British Medical Association) House was marked by presentations from Professor Francis Camps, Dr Lincoln Williams, Dr Basil Merriman, Dr Griffith Edwards and the Bishop of London.

According to Dr Max Glatt, one of the original founders of the MCA, Professor Camps went on to become the main mover in the foundation of the MCA, together with Dr Chalke, Dr Noel Moynihan, Dr Richard Phillipson (a former Director of Army Psychiatry) and Dr Glatt. They were joined by Mr Clement Price-Thomas, Mr Lawrence Able and Dr Harold Stewart.

Dr Chalke was thus also a key figure in the creation of the MCA, and many of us therefore owe him a great debt. The Bulletin was transformed into ‘The Journal of Alcoholism with volume 1 in 1966. The title of the journal was subsequently changed twice, first to the ‘British Journal on Alcohol and Alcoholism’ with volume 12 in 1977, then to ‘Alcohol and Alcoholism’ with volume 18 in 1983. The journal continued to appear quarterly until 1988 when volume 23 and subsequent volumes appeared bi-monthly. A colourful and detailed, yet succinct, account of the efforts and activities of Dr Chalke and others in the early days of the Bulletin and the MCA has been written (Evans, 1990Go) by the third person to whom we wish to pay tribute, Dr Chalke's successor as second Editor of the journal, Dr Myrddin Evans. Dr Evans, who was Editor until 1980, continued the development of the journal and, of his various contributions and energetic management of the journal, perhaps the most significant is his successful introduction into the journal content of many important basic scientific studies on alcohol. This has been achieved thanks to his fine scientific intellect, great foresight, wide international links and a true belief in the value of the multi-disciplinary approach. In our opinion, Dr Evans' greatest achievement for the journal was his ability, almost single-handedly, to lead the ‘British Journal on Alcohol and Alcoholism to becoming perceived as an emerging multi-disciplinary journal with a major scientific content. In achieving this status for his journal, Dr Evans paved the way, before retiring in 1980, for its transformation to the international journal known today as ‘Alcohol and Alcoholism’ under the leadership of a new Editor-in-Chief, Dr Allan D. Thomson.Dr Thomson led a small team including one of us (A.A.-B.B.) and Dr J. Spencer Madden (both as Deputy Editors) in launching Alcohol and Alcoholism with volume 18 in 1983 and with a new publisher, Pergamon Press. Dr Madden has also had a long association with the MCA (having been one of the first elected members of the Executive in 1969) and is very much involved in its affairs, being currently one of its two Vice Chairmen and also Chairman of the Journal Committee, although he retired as Deputy Editor in July 1999. As stated previously (Badawy and Thomson, 1999Go), Dr Madden's Deputy Editorship was a distinguished one and he must be credited with making Alcohol and Alcoholism the truly multi-disciplinary journal it is today. Dr Thomson has consolidated the successes of his predecessor, developed the strong biomedical character of the journal, publicised and promoted the journal world wide and generally established Alcohol and Alcoholism as an international biomedical journal. The standing of the journal has thus risen under his leadership and his ultimate contribution must surely be the adoption by ESBRA of Alcohol and Alcoholism as its official journal, and we also acknowledge here the roles played by the Founding President of ESBRA, Professor Roger Nordmann and its Secretary/Treasurer and subsequently second President, Dr Philippe De Witte. With this important European recognition, Alcohol and Alcoholism now has two Chief Editors representing MCA and ESBRA, and we are both fortunate in having taken on the privilege and responsibility of managing this journal from such good hands.

We should now like to turn our attention to the journal itself and its current position and to sound a note of optimism for its future. Over the past five successive years, the standing of Alcohol and Alcoholism has risen steadily without exception. The Impact Factor (IF) of the journal, for what it is worth, has been increasing all the time (0.952 in 1993; 1.026 in 1994; 1.145 in 1995; 1.423 in 1996; 1.536 in 1997 and 1.550 in 1998), as has the number of submissions (96 in 1996; 123 in 1997; 136 in 1998 and 143 so far until the end of November 1999). Alcohol and Alcoholism has now maintained its position as fourth in the category of substance misuse journals for the second year running, against the expected fluctuation experienced by most other journals. However, as a truly multi-disciplinary journal with a major biomedical content, we consider Alcohol and Alcoholism to be the premier European journal in the field, second only to the North American journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. We are confident that our author-friendly policies and our fair, competent and expeditious handling system have played a key role in the current perception of our journal. We shall strive to ensure that our policies meet the expectations and aspirations of alcohol researchers in their various disciplines, and we assure our potential contributors that we value the Editor–Author partnership and regard it as the key to successful scientific publishing.

The readers of this issue will see that the journal is now printed in a larger (A4) format, which brings it in line with most other journals. This format was primarily selected to meet the increased demand on our pages necessitated by the continually rising level of submissions.

The journal is also now on line (http://www.oup.co.uk/alcalc/). Since 1995, the journal has been published by OUP, who, under the guidance and management of Mr Steve Johnson and now Ms Mandy Sketch, and our Production Editor Ms Nancy Hillelson, have been responsible not only for the production of a high-quality publication, but also its promotion within the scientific community worldwide. We greatly value the support and interest of our Oxford publisher OUP.

We should now like to return to the ‘parent’. There can be no doubt in the minds of those who have read so far about the achievements of the MCA. Readers of this journal who are not members of MCA, or aware of its activities, should know that, as well as publishing Alcohol and Alcoholism as an international scientific journal for experts in the alcoholism field worldwide, the MCA also publishes a bi-monthly newsletter ‘Alcoholism aimed primarily towards general practitioners and other primary healthcare providers, and performs a variety of other educational activities for the medical and allied professions in the United Kingdom. For example, the MCA holds seminars for medical students and symposia for clinical and other researchers and practitioners, advises a number of official medical and health organizations, publishes handbooks for medical students and nurses, has a network of regional advisors attached to various university medical schools and health authorities and has a high profile in activities addressing important medical issues on alcoholism and alcohol problems at a variety of levels (e.g. in the workplace and among the medical professions). For those who wish to gain a closer insight into the history and development of the MCA, the review by Evans (1990) in this journal is an excellent source worthy of study. In our view, two aspects of MCA's achievements stand out most prominently. The first is the ability of MCA to perform all the above functions effectively with limited resources, and the second is its flagship Alcohol and Alcoholism, as described by its present Executive Director, Dr Peter Abraham, in the MCA's 1999 Annual Report (Abraham, 1999Go). The former could not have been possible without the dedication, leadership and guidance of successive MCA Presidents, Chairmen and Executive Directors and the support of other officers and ordinary members. We salute them all and are certain of the continued success and progress of the MCA under the wise leadership of its current President Sir Leslie Turnberg, Chairman Dr Bruce Ritson and Executive Director Dr Peter Abraham. At the international and scientific level, there is no doubt that ‘a successful international journal is the most esteemed of all products of a special interest medical society’ (Evans, 1990Go). The success of Alcohol and Alcoholism, in our opinion, is a testimony to both the foresight of successive MCA officers and the dedicated work of successive Editors. We are confident of the continued success of the journal of the MCA and its ESBRA partners and thus enter the new millennium with the greatest of optimism.

REFERENCES

Abraham, P. (1999) Report of the Executive Director 1992–1999. In The Medical Council on Alcoholism Annual Report, 1999. The Medical Council on Alcoholism, London.

Badawy, A. A.-B. and Tipton, K. F. (1999) Editorial: Happy New Year: the final year of this millennium. Alcohol and Alcoholism 34, 1.[Free Full Text]

Badawy, A. A.-B. and Thomson, A. D. (1999) Editorial: Thank you Dr Spencer Madden and welcome Dr Jonathan Chick. Alcohol and Alcoholism 34, 495–496.[Free Full Text]

Evans, M. (1990) The Medical Council on Alcoholism and its international journal. Alcohol and Alcoholism 25, 95–102.[ISI][Medline]

Evans, M. (2000) Invited Special Article: The Medical Council on Alcoholism (MCA) and its journal Alcohol and Alcoholism. Alcohol and Alcoholism 35, 3–6.[Free Full Text]

Mann, K., Hermann, D. and Heinz, A. (2000) Invited Special Article: One hundred years of alcoholism: the twentieth century. Alcohol and Alcoholism 35, 10–15.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Nordmann, R. (2000) Invited Special Article: ESBRA: Passport for the development of biological research on alcoholism inside Europe. Alcohol and Alcoholism 35, 7–9.[Free Full Text]

Potgieter, A. (2000) Invited Special Article: Science, practice and patient needs: the work of the Plinius Maior Society. Alcohol and Alcoholism 35, 16–24.[Abstract/Free Full Text]





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