During his presidency of The Endocrine Society, Bert OMalley was a moving force behind the idea that we should publish a journal dedicated to the newer "molecular" approaches to our field. When I heard of the plan, my immediate, internal reaction was that such a journal was a good idea. I knew as well as anybody about the scores of redundant journals, with more coming every day; so why did I think that another new journal would be useful? The answer lay in my frustration, shared, I knew, by many other endocrine scientists, in finding an appropriate place to publish. General science journals were not the answer, and although a few endocrine journals were trying to feature work using the newer technology applied to endocrinology, many scientists I knew were feeling a need for a place where they could publish along with others interested in similar problems. Existing journals, including Endocrinology, contained a wealth of valuable work but did not seem a site where a dialogue could be established between laboratories focusing on the molecular aspects of endocrine regulation. The decision to actually apply for the position of initial editor of the new journal followed a telephone call from Bert. We discussed the need for the journal and agreed on the valuable purpose it could serve. I became convinced that it would be worth the effort to try to start the journal. I duly applied and received an appointment to be among the candidates interviewed by the Publications Committee at The Endocrine Society Meeting of 1984 in Washington, D.C.
At the time I was engaged in moving my laboratory, work, job and 32-foot sloop Rubaiyat, from Maryland to Texas. With a series of ad hoc crews, I was sailing the boat in stages down the East Coast, a few days at a time as work schedules permitted, and Rubaiyat had reached mid-Florida. I carefully timed out a plan and recruited a crew to take the boat from the east coast of Florida across the Gulf Stream out to the Bahamas, drop it off, catch a plane, and get to the meeting in plenty of time. However, when the date came, I arrived at the boat only to discover that not a single crew member was able to make it. Because I was determined to get the boat out to the Bahamas, I moved her myself, in an exciting overnight sail, narrowly missing the Little Bahamas Bank and barely arriving in time to drop the lines on the pilings, run to a taxi and from the cab to the last plane of the day, dash off at National airport, tear over to the Society headquarters hotel, grab a cup of coffee, and sit for my interview before the Publications Committee. (For some reason, I couldnt keep the coffee cup from rattling in the saucer.) Whether the state of hyperalertness I had reached contributed to my responses or not, I cant say, but nevertheless, I was selected.
Soon after I accepted the job came the realization that despite all those fine ideas, I knew little or nothing about publishing. How to get the practical aspects of a beginning journal under control? I was going to need a Managing Editor and all the help I could get. With the Societys blessing, I started interviewing for a part-time assistant editor. The first person to walk through my door in Galveston was a young woman dressed in a funky long coat and hat straight from the Paddington Bear series of childrens books. It was Pam Diamond, an aspiring creative writer living in an non-air-conditioned walkup (bathroom down the hall) in Galvestons historic district. In our 30-min conversation, it became obvious that here was a woman of rare intelligence and personality ... and idiosyncrasy, who wanted to earn just enough to support her writing. I decided to go for intelligence, and Molecular Endocrinology and The Endocrine Society have benefitted ever since. Pam was a published author and understood the ins and outs of publication. She had much wise advice about matters to which I had given little attention: format, paper, cover, print. We decided that this journal needed to stand out as the place where hot new advances in the molecular biology of endocrine action should be published. Setting aside my "make it look like the older, classical Continental journals," we went for the modern look of Cell and similar publications. (Later, Ben Lewin wrote, tongue in cheek, to say how much he liked the look we ended up with.) Then came the choice of name. Picking my own childrens names was easier. After long and arduous discussions, much polling of Society members, and many lists, we finally settled on Molecular Endocrinology for the title. Not highly original, but it clearly made the main point. Most important of all was to establish the editorial policy and working relationships of the new journal.
What I wanted to do with this journal was avoid the difficulties and annoyances sometimes encountered while trying to publish. Our aim was to get frontier papers of the highest quality. We wanted a high visibility "user-friendly" journal, complete fairness to authors, and rapid time to publication, without any sacrifice of integrity. We advised our reviewers to be on the lookout for quality, to stick to the important issues, and not to feel that it was their duty to find something wrong with each paper. We instituted the idea of rapid turnaround of reviews by sending out manuscripts by Federal Express. We faxed the incoming abstracts to the Associate Editors for initial sorting. A lasting vote of thanks should go to those early Associate Editors: Joel Habener, Tony Means, Gordon Ringold, and Geoff Rosenfeld. They had the courage to lend their time and high-profile names to the embryonic journal. We wanted to combine efficiency, fair and careful but speedy review, and quickness of publication for papers in this hot field, so that the authors could feel that they were getting a fair shake. They could see their papers in print in a reasonable length of time and could follow the work of others in a timely manner. We ground our publishers down to what was then the state-of-the-art minimum turnaround time for that publishing house. We got them to accept and edit manuscripts on diskettes. We tried to interest them in electronic publishing, but it was clear that the industry in 1987 was not ready for that. The ideas of faxing reviews, sending out papers for review by express mail, putting an interesting picture on the cover, and using glossy paper were all new to this kind of society-published journal. Some ideas we invented, some we borrowed.
Starting a new journal is an anxious activity. With the first few issues, it is difficult to determine whether any papers are going to be submitted and whether the flow will be sustained. Fortunately, we chose to dedicate the first issue to an outstanding scientist, my old mentor, Gordon Tomkins. It was pleasing and a little surprising that some 10 yr after his death, an almost uniformly positive response to requests for papers was forthcoming. The first actual manuscript we received was from Alex Rich. When it came in, I recall Pam standing there excitedly holding the paper and wondering what to do with it. Knowing her filing methods and mine, I was quick to say, "Hand that paper to Eva." Eva Roberts was another important person during the journals early days. I knew she was a "keeper" when during her job interview she remarked, "Ive already got a job paying me full-time, but theres not enough to do, and Im bored." She supplied the organization that kept things in place and all records intact. Subsequently, Eva moved on and was replaced by Chandra Ganesan, who shared Evas organizational qualities. The balance was perfect, and we are proud to say that in the 6 yr I served as Editor of the journal, not a single paper or manuscript was lost.
Finally, in recognizing people who contributed to the establishment of the journal, I want to point out that the original cover design and the serifs (which separate white space on pages) were created for free by Lois Thompson, my mother. As to the popularity of the new format and style of doing business that we created, I can only say that we soon found our other Society journals clamoring for the same and have noted that a number of other scientific societies have created analogous journals. Whether this is purely coincidence or not, who knows? In any case, we can claim precedence among such society-sponsored journals.
After the first anxious months, the ensuing years were marked by an increasing flow of papers. Our daily review of journal business often ran overtime. A number of prominent molecular endocrinologists who initially had been deeply suspicious of publishing in ME because of worries about whether their paper would be seen or cited from there, became regular contributors. Most of them have become members of the Editorial Board. As intended, we also have attracted people working in the broader fields of regulation through hormone-like mechanisms. The scientific success of the journal became increasingly apparent. For some time this was not sufficient, however, to alleviate disputes within the endocrine publications community over its value. Economic concerns were raised frequently, and other issues continually arose, which made the future of the journal seem in doubt. Bert OMalley continued to work for the journal during this time, and his efforts helped strengthen its support. A real turning point came during the presidency of Jean Wilson who, along with other prominent members of the Society and the Publications Committee, voiced strong support of ME. After a few years of publication, outcome data began to come in: ME had quickly risen to be the most cited endocrine journal in the world outside of review journals. Among all 4,0005,000 scientific journals followed by Citation Index, it ranked about 60th!
Reporting these successes to the annual meeting of the Publications Committee recalls another sailing story. When the Society met in New Orleans, I decided to travel there in my own boat from Galveston about 400 miles. Unfortunately, after we got out in the Gulf of Mexico, a terrific Norther came through, which drove us off shore and delayed us about a day. Once again it was the situation of getting to a dock at the last possible minute (not having bathed or showered for several days), slinging on a suit and tie, jumping in a cab, and tearing off to a meeting. The Publications Committee was already in session and Pam was representing the journal, fending off questions in my absence. With her flare for the dramatic, she got wind of the fact that we were in a storm and announced that the Editor had been "lost at sea" and that the Coast Guard was out looking for him. I arrived a moment later, hot and sweaty, and badly in need of industrial-grade deodorant. The Committee members looked at me a little quizzically; otherwise, the report went well.
When time came to conclude my term as Editor and hand the job over to someone else, ME seemed an established fixture in the world of endocrinology. It seemed to have satisfied the goals that we had set for it and had become what we hoped for a journal that provided a place where people could publish outstanding work in molecular endocrinology in the broadest sense and where they could expect to get fair and fast reviews that focused on the essentials of the paper. (As to fairness of reviews, we took pride in the fact that every member of the Board of Editors had had at least one paper rejected by the journal). We were pleased that we had been able to set up an office that had run efficiently and economically, despite working amid a variety of vicissitudes, including a major storm that hit Galveston Island, without missing an issue or falling behind. Society officials seemed to have accepted the fact that this premiere journal was worth the cost of publishing, and the membership of the society soundly supported that view. Since handing over the Editorship, its been a relief not to have to see the journal on a daily basis, but I am pleased to watch it continue to prosper under the excellent Editorship of Tony Means. I am even able to get an occasional paper accepted there myself.
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