Reflections on the Merger of Molecular Endocrinology and Endocrinology

EDITORIAL

ard though it is to imagine now-common- of interest to a particular group of researchers Hplace things as not existing, try to envis- could be published would be important. age the world of endocrinology when hor- Within The Endocrine Society, there were 2 mone receptors were just being discovered, schools of thought about how to do this: one be- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mend/article/30/10/1019/2556327 by guest on 30 September 2021 signaling pathways just beginning to be re- lieved that it would be sufficient to dedicate a sec- vealed, and obtaining the gene that encoded a tion of our classic, flagship journal, Endocrinol- hormone was a finding worthy of publication ogy, to the new approach; the other felt that in Science. Such was the E. Brad Thompson, MD creating a new journal was state of endocrine science important, to clearly differ- when the idea of starting a Imitation is a high form of flattery, entiate what was a signifi- new Endocrine Society jour- and Molecular Endocrinology’s cant new scientific direction nal specifically devoted to format and policies were copied in for endocrine research. Fis- covering these areas was sug- start-ups by several other society cal considerations also had gested. A growing number of and free-standing journals. to be taken into account. endocrinology researchers Starting a journal would were frustrated by having no quality journal in which to cost money, and the enterprise could not be expected to publish their findings, which were often obtained through become self-supporting for several years. Furthermore, the use of the new, powerful technologies generally re- would the new journal diminish the importance of Endocri- ferred to by the freshly coined term “molecular biology.” nology? Would the 2 journals have to compete for papers? One could publish in a variety of general journals, of Feelings ran high at times, on both sides. Eventually, a con- course, or in journals devoted to endocrinology, including sensus was reached: there would be a new journal. In Eu- our own Endocrinology. The problem with specialty en- rope, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology had just begun docrine journals, however, was that they had for many publishing. It was important that The Endocrine Society, years been publishing work concerning the magnificent America’s leader in endocrine research and practice, have discoveries of hormones, their physiology and biochem- representation in this important new area. istry. Consequently, they were perceived as mostly dedi- Unaware of all the above intrasociety background, I cated to such content. Most importantly, remember that shared the general sense of confusion and frustration over there were no search engines or worldwide webs. To find where to publish my own research. I had first heard the articles relevant to one’s own work, it was necessary to phrase molecular biology in a lecture at the National In- imagine where they might be published, find that journal stitutes of Health by Gordon Tomkins, who had just re- in a lab or library, and look for authors or relevant titles. turned from a sabbatical in France, where he had been Huge tomes of key word indices lay on library shelves, to exposed to many of the founders of the concept, scientists be looked through page by page. Then, if a likely article such as Jakob, Monod, and Changeux. Realizing that the was found, one hoped that that library had it on the field of endocrinology would be revolutionized by these shelves. If not, one sent off a letter to the authors or to the methods, I postponed, as it turned out, forever, my endo- National Library of Medicine requesting a paper copy, crine fellowship with Bob Williams in Seattle and joined which might arrive in a few weeks. In short, “keeping up Tomkins’ lab in 1964. Thus, I had been employing the with the literature” was difficult, frustrating, and uncer- new approaches for years when the question of a new tain. Having a single source in which important discoveries journal was being debated, and when it was suggested

doi: 10.1210/me.2016-1128 Mol Endocrinol, October 2016, 30(10):1019–1020 press.endocrine.org/journal/mend 1019 1020 Thompson Mol Endocrinol, October 2016, 30(10):1019–1020 that I apply for the editorship of the new journal, I de- tiveness. Imitation is a high form of flattery, and Molec- cided to do so. As it turned out, I was selected. The drama ular Endocrinology’s format and policies were copied in surrounding that moment of selection has been recounted start-ups by several other society and free-standing jour- (Thompson, Molecular Endocrinology, the early years: nals. Unfortunately, our journal never achieved fiscal in- recollections by the first Editor-in-Chief. Mol Endocrinol. dependence and became accepted, more or less, as a “loss 1997;11(6):654–656). The consequence of being chosen leader” by the Society. Molecular biological methods are as the founding Editor-in-Chief was that I had to find an now employed in many endocrine researches and are seen answer to the question: How does one create a new, regularly in articles in the pages of Endocrinology. Above stand-out journal? all in importance has been the advent of the worldwide The Society gave me freedom to be creative. My Man- web and electronic publishing. Finding articles of interest, aging Editor, Pam Diamond, and I decided that form as no matter where published, now takes a matter of min- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mend/article/30/10/1019/2556327 by guest on 30 September 2021 well as substance was important, so we created a cover utes, not days. Although the elitist views of some readers that differed from that of the other Society journals, chose still make publication in certain journals seem desirable, it a modern font and paper, selected what we hoped would is not so important that one or a few journals contain prove to be an attractive journal name, and, most impor- most of what one wants to read. One’s results, no matter tantly, adopted some editorial policies that were unusual where published, are available, in a very practical sense, at the time. to everyone. These circumstances have led the Society to Excepting a few, mostly weekly, journals, the publica- return to the original alternative of combining Endocri- tion process usually proceeded at a leisurely academic nology and Molecular Endocrinology, but in a new for- pace in those days. There was no prereview. One could mat, one which it is hoped will best satisfy the needs of expect the scientific review to consume 1–3 months. After endocrine researchers. Although I regret the loss of acceptance, publication could take more months. Instead, Molecular Endocrinology as an independent journal, we offered editorial prereview, allowing authors to send times change, and I earnestly wish high success to the in an abstract or short precursor version of their paper, to editors of our Society’s new, combined journal. see whether it seemed appropriate for the journal. We Dr. Thompson’s professional positions are Senior pledged a review turnaround time of 2 weeks and pursued Research Professor, Center for Nuclear Receptors and reviewers to meet that schedule. And we nagged the pub- Cell Signaling, University of Houston, TX and Professor lishers to get their job done in weeks, not months. We Emeritus, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Bi- recruited an excellent panel of Associate Editors and Ed- ology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston itors, easily recognizable as leaders in the field. Most im- Texas. portantly, we let our fellow scientists, inside and outside The Endocrine Society, know that we were looking for their best, most exciting results. Acknowledgments These tactics worked. The journal became the place to Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: publish, and it achieved creditably high ratings as assessed Endocrine Society, 2055 L Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, by the various metrics that try to evaluate journal effec- DC 20036. E-mail: [email protected].