Hard though it is to imagine now-commonplace things as not existing, try to envisage the world of endocrinology when hormone receptors were just being discovered, signaling pathways just beginning to be revealed, and obtaining the gene that encoded a hormone was a finding worthy of publication in Science. Such was the state of endocrine science when the idea of starting a new Endocrine Society journal specifically devoted to covering these areas was suggested. A growing number of endocrinology researchers were frustrated by having no quality journal in which to publish their findings, which were often obtained through the use of the new, powerful technologies generally referred to by the freshly coined term “molecular biology.” One could publish in a variety of general journals, of course, or in journals devoted to endocrinology, including our own Endocrinology. The problem with specialty endocrine journals, however, was that they had for many years been publishing work concerning the magnificent discoveries of hormones, their physiology and biochemistry. Consequently, they were perceived as mostly dedicated to such content. Most importantly, remember that there were no search engines or worldwide webs. To find articles relevant to one's own work, it was necessary to imagine where they might be published, find that journal in a lab or library, and look for authors or relevant titles. Huge tomes of key word indices lay on library shelves, to be looked through page by page. Then, if a likely article was found, one hoped that that library had it on the shelves. If not, one sent off a letter to the authors or to the National Library of Medicine requesting a paper copy, which might arrive in a few weeks. In short, “keeping up with the literature” was difficult, frustrating, and uncertain. Having a single source in which important discoveries of interest to a particular group of researchers could be published would be important.
E. Brad Thompson, MD
Imitation is a high form of flattery, and Molecular Endocrinology's format and policies were copied in start-ups by several other society and free-standing journals.
Within The Endocrine Society, there were 2 schools of thought about how to do this: one believed that it would be sufficient to dedicate a section of our classic, flagship journal, Endocrinology, to the new approach; the other felt that creating a new journal was important, to clearly differentiate what was a significant new scientific direction for endocrine research. Fiscal considerations also had to be taken into account. Starting a journal would cost money, and the enterprise could not be expected to become self-supporting for several years. Furthermore, would the new journal diminish the importance of Endocrinology? Would the 2 journals have to compete for papers? Feelings ran high at times, on both sides. Eventually, a consensus was reached: there would be a new journal. In Europe, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology had just begun publishing. It was important that The Endocrine Society, America's leader in endocrine research and practice, have representation in this important new area.
Unaware of all the above intrasociety background, I shared the general sense of confusion and frustration over where to publish my own research. I had first heard the phrase molecular biology in a lecture at the National Institutes of Health by Gordon Tomkins, who had just returned from a sabbatical in France, where he had been exposed to many of the founders of the concept, scientists such as Jakob, Monod, and Changeux. Realizing that the field of endocrinology would be revolutionized by these methods, I postponed, as it turned out, forever, my endocrine fellowship with Bob Williams in Seattle and joined Tomkins' lab in 1964. Thus, I had been employing the new approaches for years when the question of a new journal was being debated, and when it was suggested that I apply for the editorship of the new journal, I decided to do so. As it turned out, I was selected. The drama surrounding that moment of selection has been recounted (Thompson, Molecular Endocrinology, the early years: recollections by the first Editor-in-Chief. Mol Endocrinol. 1997;11(6):654–656). The consequence of being chosen as the founding Editor-in-Chief was that I had to find an answer to the question: How does one create a new, stand-out journal?
The Society gave me freedom to be creative. My Managing Editor, Pam Diamond, and I decided that form as well as substance was important, so we created a cover that differed from that of the other Society journals, chose a modern font and paper, selected what we hoped would prove to be an attractive journal name, and, most importantly, adopted some editorial policies that were unusual at the time.
Excepting a few, mostly weekly, journals, the publication process usually proceeded at a leisurely academic pace in those days. There was no prereview. One could expect the scientific review to consume 1–3 months. After acceptance, publication could take more months. Instead, we offered editorial prereview, allowing authors to send in an abstract or short precursor version of their paper, to see whether it seemed appropriate for the journal. We pledged a review turnaround time of 2 weeks and pursued reviewers to meet that schedule. And we nagged the publishers to get their job done in weeks, not months. We recruited an excellent panel of Associate Editors and Editors, easily recognizable as leaders in the field. Most importantly, we let our fellow scientists, inside and outside The Endocrine Society, know that we were looking for their best, most exciting results.
These tactics worked. The journal became the place to publish, and it achieved creditably high ratings as assessed by the various metrics that try to evaluate journal effectiveness. Imitation is a high form of flattery, and Molecular Endocrinology's format and policies were copied in start-ups by several other society and free-standing journals. Unfortunately, our journal never achieved fiscal independence and became accepted, more or less, as a “loss leader” by the Society. Molecular biological methods are now employed in many endocrine researches and are seen regularly in articles in the pages of Endocrinology. Above all in importance has been the advent of the worldwide web and electronic publishing. Finding articles of interest, no matter where published, now takes a matter of minutes, not days. Although the elitist views of some readers still make publication in certain journals seem desirable, it is not so important that one or a few journals contain most of what one wants to read. One's results, no matter where published, are available, in a very practical sense, to everyone. These circumstances have led the Society to return to the original alternative of combining Endocrinology and Molecular Endocrinology, but in a new format, one which it is hoped will best satisfy the needs of endocrine researchers. Although I regret the loss of Molecular Endocrinology as an independent journal, times change, and I earnestly wish high success to the editors of our Society's new, combined journal.
Dr. Thompson's professional positions are Senior Research Professor, Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling, University of Houston, TX and Professor Emeritus, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston Texas.
Acknowledgments
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Endocrine Society, 2055 L Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036. E-mail: molendo@endocrine.org.
