- Email: [email protected]
The JNS: a Tribute
Journal of Neurological Sciences 153 (1998) 127–128
The JNS: a Tribute Lord Walton of Detchant President of the World Federation of Neurology
As the World Federation of Neurology, founded in the 1950s, began to expand its activities under the admirable leadership of the late Prof. Ludo van Bogaert, it soon became clear that this world organisation required a journal of its own. Initially, the Federation was able to persuade an American publisher to bring out a journal which was entitled ‘World Neurology’, but which, bluntly, failed to find a market and which closed down after a relatively brief life. Happily, the WFN was then able to persuade Elsevier Science Publishers to launch a new journal as the official organ of the WFN and so in January / February 1964 the Journal of the Neurological Sciences was born under the inspired editorship of Dr Macdonald Critchley, who sadly died in October 1997, aged 97. Not long afterwards, in 1967, Dr Critchley was himself elected President of the WFN in succession to Ludo van Bogaert and, very reasonably, felt that in that capacity he could no longer continue to edit the journal. I confess that I was surprised and deeply honoured to be invited by him to assume the editorship, though I was very conscious, in the midst of a busy life of clinical practice, teaching and research, that the appointment would carry with it a substantial burden of work and that it would present many challenges. At that time, the journal appeared every two months and was slimmer than it is now. However, I was not in the first instance given any editorial support and for several years I personally edited all of the manuscripts, making changes and corrections in the light of comments made by referees, and all of the correspondence was done by my indefatigable and enormously efficient secretary, Rosemary Allan, who happily continues to work with me part-time even today. While the WFN was able to offer me a modest sum of a few hundred pounds simply to cover the costs of postage, there can be no doubt that for the first few years of my editorship the expenses of editing the journal were heavily subsidised by my university department in Newcastle upon Tyne, and of course it was never contemplated 0022-510X / 98 / $19.00 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0022-510X( 97 )00283-9
in the UK at that time that editors of scientific journals would receive any personal honorarium. My problems were compounded to some extent by the fact that from its inception, it was agreed that articles in the journal could be published in English, French, German and Spanish, although those in languages other than English also had an English summary. While I could cope reasonably well with articles written in French, I had to recruit the assistance of colleagues in Newcastle who were Spanish-speaking, and appointed as my deputy editor Prof. E.J. Field, a fluent German speaker. And as this was an international journal, the editorial task was not helped by the fact that a considerable number of papers of admirable scientific quality came from many overseas countries but were written in English which often required extensive editorial correction. As the years went by, however, the number of papers submitted in languages other than English steadily declined and in the 1970s we finally concluded, with the support of the officers of the WFN, that all papers should be published in the English language, which certainly made my task somewhat easier. After a few years, Prof. Field resigned his deputy editorship and I was glad to be able to recruit Dr Walter Bradley (as he then was) as my deputy editor, to help with the massive burden of editing and proof correction, though I continued, with the aid of Rosemary, to carry out all the correspondence with authors and referees. As time went by, the success of the journal and the increasing quality of papers being submitted meant that we were inevitably faced with the necessity of increasing the number of pages that we published and of converting the journal from a bimonthly to a monthly publication. I well recall the friendly but somewhat acrimonious discussions I had with Elsevier when it became clear that this increase in the size of the journal would result in a major increase in subscription, an increase which undoubtedly constrained our hope and prospect of increasing its circulation, since
128
A Tribute
the costs of subscribing increased to such an extent that most potential individual subscribers were deterred. Nevertheless, international subscriptions from libraries and departments held up reasonably well, and as the number of papers submitted grew exponentially, our rejection rate increased correspondingly, though we invariably tried to reduce the waiting time before publication and were in general successful in keeping this to no more than six to nine months. I was also very glad that in the last three years of my editorship, discussions with the publisher enabled us to obtain from them a modest financial subsidy which for the first time enabled me to defray some of my departmental costs and to offer a modest honorarium to my hard-working secretary, Rosemary, whose burden of work had increased substantially. If, however, I have highlighted in these comments some of the problems which I faced as editor, particularly during the earlier years in which I held that appointment, I must make it clear that despite the massive burden of work which continued to increase steadily and which occupied many of my late evenings and weekends, I found my editorship to be immensely rewarding, not least because reading and editing the outstanding contributions which we were able to publish constituted a major postgraduate course in the neurological sciences for which I shall always be grateful. So these were exciting and fruitful years. However, as
my national and international responsibilities continued to escalate, not least through my Deanship of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and my membership of the Medical Research Council and other national bodies, it became clear that I could no longer continue to edit the journal, and so after a period of 11 years I handed it on to my friend and colleague, Prof. Bryan Matthews, in Oxford. His contributions were outstanding, and since that time I have watched with deep interest and admiration the way in which the journal has continued to develop and expand under the dedicated leadership first of George Bruyn of the Netherlands and most recently of Prof. James Toole of Winston-Salem. It is clear that the Journal of the Neurological Sciences is now one of the world’s leading neurological journals and I am happy, in this brief note, to acknowledge my debt to the publishers, the contributors and the reviewers who were such an immense help to me during my period of editorial responsibility, and perhaps above all to my secretary, Rosemary, without whom it would never have been possible for me to accept and fulfil the burden of work involved. John Walton (Lord Walton of Detchant) Oxford, 1997
The JNS: a Tribute Lord Walton of Detchant President of the World Federation of Neurology
As the World Federation of Neurology, founded in the 1950s, began to expand its activities under the admirable leadership of the late Prof. Ludo van Bogaert, it soon became clear that this world organisation required a journal of its own. Initially, the Federation was able to persuade an American publisher to bring out a journal which was entitled ‘World Neurology’, but which, bluntly, failed to find a market and which closed down after a relatively brief life. Happily, the WFN was then able to persuade Elsevier Science Publishers to launch a new journal as the official organ of the WFN and so in January / February 1964 the Journal of the Neurological Sciences was born under the inspired editorship of Dr Macdonald Critchley, who sadly died in October 1997, aged 97. Not long afterwards, in 1967, Dr Critchley was himself elected President of the WFN in succession to Ludo van Bogaert and, very reasonably, felt that in that capacity he could no longer continue to edit the journal. I confess that I was surprised and deeply honoured to be invited by him to assume the editorship, though I was very conscious, in the midst of a busy life of clinical practice, teaching and research, that the appointment would carry with it a substantial burden of work and that it would present many challenges. At that time, the journal appeared every two months and was slimmer than it is now. However, I was not in the first instance given any editorial support and for several years I personally edited all of the manuscripts, making changes and corrections in the light of comments made by referees, and all of the correspondence was done by my indefatigable and enormously efficient secretary, Rosemary Allan, who happily continues to work with me part-time even today. While the WFN was able to offer me a modest sum of a few hundred pounds simply to cover the costs of postage, there can be no doubt that for the first few years of my editorship the expenses of editing the journal were heavily subsidised by my university department in Newcastle upon Tyne, and of course it was never contemplated 0022-510X / 98 / $19.00 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0022-510X( 97 )00283-9
in the UK at that time that editors of scientific journals would receive any personal honorarium. My problems were compounded to some extent by the fact that from its inception, it was agreed that articles in the journal could be published in English, French, German and Spanish, although those in languages other than English also had an English summary. While I could cope reasonably well with articles written in French, I had to recruit the assistance of colleagues in Newcastle who were Spanish-speaking, and appointed as my deputy editor Prof. E.J. Field, a fluent German speaker. And as this was an international journal, the editorial task was not helped by the fact that a considerable number of papers of admirable scientific quality came from many overseas countries but were written in English which often required extensive editorial correction. As the years went by, however, the number of papers submitted in languages other than English steadily declined and in the 1970s we finally concluded, with the support of the officers of the WFN, that all papers should be published in the English language, which certainly made my task somewhat easier. After a few years, Prof. Field resigned his deputy editorship and I was glad to be able to recruit Dr Walter Bradley (as he then was) as my deputy editor, to help with the massive burden of editing and proof correction, though I continued, with the aid of Rosemary, to carry out all the correspondence with authors and referees. As time went by, the success of the journal and the increasing quality of papers being submitted meant that we were inevitably faced with the necessity of increasing the number of pages that we published and of converting the journal from a bimonthly to a monthly publication. I well recall the friendly but somewhat acrimonious discussions I had with Elsevier when it became clear that this increase in the size of the journal would result in a major increase in subscription, an increase which undoubtedly constrained our hope and prospect of increasing its circulation, since
128
A Tribute
the costs of subscribing increased to such an extent that most potential individual subscribers were deterred. Nevertheless, international subscriptions from libraries and departments held up reasonably well, and as the number of papers submitted grew exponentially, our rejection rate increased correspondingly, though we invariably tried to reduce the waiting time before publication and were in general successful in keeping this to no more than six to nine months. I was also very glad that in the last three years of my editorship, discussions with the publisher enabled us to obtain from them a modest financial subsidy which for the first time enabled me to defray some of my departmental costs and to offer a modest honorarium to my hard-working secretary, Rosemary, whose burden of work had increased substantially. If, however, I have highlighted in these comments some of the problems which I faced as editor, particularly during the earlier years in which I held that appointment, I must make it clear that despite the massive burden of work which continued to increase steadily and which occupied many of my late evenings and weekends, I found my editorship to be immensely rewarding, not least because reading and editing the outstanding contributions which we were able to publish constituted a major postgraduate course in the neurological sciences for which I shall always be grateful. So these were exciting and fruitful years. However, as
my national and international responsibilities continued to escalate, not least through my Deanship of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and my membership of the Medical Research Council and other national bodies, it became clear that I could no longer continue to edit the journal, and so after a period of 11 years I handed it on to my friend and colleague, Prof. Bryan Matthews, in Oxford. His contributions were outstanding, and since that time I have watched with deep interest and admiration the way in which the journal has continued to develop and expand under the dedicated leadership first of George Bruyn of the Netherlands and most recently of Prof. James Toole of Winston-Salem. It is clear that the Journal of the Neurological Sciences is now one of the world’s leading neurological journals and I am happy, in this brief note, to acknowledge my debt to the publishers, the contributors and the reviewers who were such an immense help to me during my period of editorial responsibility, and perhaps above all to my secretary, Rosemary, without whom it would never have been possible for me to accept and fulfil the burden of work involved. John Walton (Lord Walton of Detchant) Oxford, 1997