As the 25th anniversary of the start of Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery approaches, I would like to write a brief history and outline the goals and aspirations of our journal.
Prior to 1998, I had been given the position of editor-in-chief of a publication called the Journal Club Journal. The purpose of that periodical was to present and critique selected publications in current journals, the nature of which were somewhat controversial. I was at the helm of that publication from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, I was asked by Dr Jack Gluckman to amalgamate my journal with the one that he was editing. In view of the fact that there was a similarity in the format and some overlap of our presentations, we agreed that the union of the two would be a good idea. Dr Richard Fabian was the coeditor at that time and he was interested in stepping down from his position.
Dr Gluckman and I had a great working relationship as well as a close prior friendship. The journal went well, but Dr Gluckman elected to retire early from his departmental chairmanship as well as the practice of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery. This was a tremendous loss to the academic otolaryngology and head and neck surgery community as he was a great chairman, an outstanding head and neck oncologic surgeon and a superlative teacher. He also, regrettably, resigned from editorship of our journal in 2008.
However, Dr Patrick J Bradley who had been and continues to be a great personal friend and talented colleague was appointed as coeditor with me in 2009. Our association and friendship flourished under our joint venture as editors in chief of Current Opinion in Otolaryngology. It is such a joy to have a colleague with you who has had an extensive experience in our specialty with whom you can bounce contentious issues off. It has been a joy to work together with Pat.
The format of the journal has evolved somewhat over time and currently has incorporated the expertise of otolaryngologists/head and neck surgeons from the various subspecialties as well as taking advantage of the diversity of high-profile specialists from a number of different countries in the world other than predominantly from the United States as was done in the early years of Current Opinion. This diversity was introduced and encouraged by Pat, agreed to wholeheartedly by myself and has expanded the scope of the journal widely as well as giving us the international flavor we now enjoy.
Our format has been that Pat and I choose section editors of good reputation who are usually from an academic center and are recognized experts in their subspecialty. The section editors then choose authors from their subspecialty who will send them a number of proposed topics that are timely, relevant and of high quality that will provide a good educational experience for our readers. Prior to the creation of the articles by the authors, the section editors present a list of topics created by the authors to Pat and myself for approval. Our excellent assistant, Hillevi Sellén at Wolters Kluwer will then research past issues of the journal to determine if similar topics have been presented in our journal in the preceding 5 years. If there is in the author's proposed article a different perspective or spin to it compared with the more recently published one that is similar in topic, then we will usually allow its inclusion.
Pat and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our section editors as well as all the authors who have contributed to the journal. We would also like to thank the publishers at Wolters Kluwer for their excellent job of producing our journal. And finally, we wish to give great thanks and accolades to our able assistant Hillevi Sellén at the home office in London for her patience and forbearance in putting up with two aggressive, opinionated and impatient but appreciative editors in chief.
Acknowledgements
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Conflicts of interest
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