Clinical Anatomy 4:159-160 (1991)

From the Founding Editor

As one's status moves beyond the senior stage, to a flirtation with the title emeritus, it is not uncommon, as I am told by those who have achieved the latter, to look over your shoulder for things that you like to remember. In my career, the establishment of the Journal of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists is high on my list.

T h e idea of the Journal was born in the mind of Don Cahill as he sat one morning in our publishers office discussingone of his own publications. We met on that visit, and when he mentioned his idea, we both knew it was the right thing at the right time. However, we were nervous, as was the Executive Council and the Publisher. T h e main concerns were the availability of a sufficient number of quality manu- scripts and the introduction of a new Journal in a crowded field. Crucial to the launching of the Journal, was the concept that it would represent both the British Association of Clinical Anatomists (BACA) and the American Association of Clini- cal Anatomists (AACA). Well recognized for the quality of their scientific work, and no less for their literary capability, the participation by the BACA was considered crucial. On the surface this concept seemed easily accomplished, but were it not for Ray Scothorne it might not have been so. With tenacity and vigour, he gathered and directed a somewhat scattered membership, much as his forebears might have done with sheep on the Scottish highlands. As I heard it, he did not have too many sheepdogs to help him. Once the Council of the BACA joined us, we knew that the Journal would be a success.

Initially, the members of the Association stepped, into the breach and gave the Journal a rousing start, after which there was a settling-in period when suitable publications were relatively hard to come by. T h e Journal then began to make itself known in more distant lands, since which time there has been a steady stream of offerings from countries where English is not the official language. This blessing proved to be a headache as most of these manuscripts, some of which were of high calibre, required rewriting and a formidable correspondence to elucidate true meanings; it was about this time that I paid my first subscription to the Society for the Promotion of Esperanto!. Pari passu manuscripts started to arrive at such a rate that we had a publication date of over a year. T h e next step became obvious, as we moved from quarterly to bimonthly publication in 1991.

What of the future? We now have a much stronger team at the helm in the U.S. Don Cahill brings to the editorship a knowledge forged during the editorship of several outstanding texts, together with an eye that sees perfection only and dismisses the suboptimal. Peter Amadio has shown himself to be an extremely effective manager combining the talents of a diplomat with the resolve of a businessman. With both of these men at the same institution, the Journal could not

0 1991 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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be in better hands. I know that one of the most pressing items on their agenda is to forge a more effective link with Ray Scothorne and the B.A.C.A. There have been times when the oceanic divide has appeared to be as formidable administratively as it was to Columbus on his first voyage. T h e joint meeting at Nonvich could not be better timed, as we have never had the good fortune for the A.A.C.A. , the B.A.C.A. and the publisher to sit around a table and oil the wheels that make the Journal go.

On a personal level, I have been delighted to watch the Journal grow. Whatever I d id to assist has given me much gratification, and as I leaf through upcoming numbers in the years ahead, I will always remember those early challenging days and reflect on how fortunate I was to be part of the Journal’s development.

Ralph Ger