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Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gmea20
A note from the departing editor in chief Lawrence S. Greene
a
a
Churchill College , Cambridge Published online: 12 May 2010.
To cite this article: Lawrence S. Greene (1992) A note from the departing editor in chief, Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, 14:2-4, 1-2, DOI: 10.1080/01459740.1992.9966070 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01459740.1992.9966070
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions
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A Note from the Departing Editor in Chief This is my last issue as Editor in Chief of MA, as Peter Brown has assumed that position in October 1991; thus it is an appropriate time to reflect on our accomplishments over the past four or five years. I feel that these successes have been considerable as the journal has achieved a high degree of respectability and has reemerged as one of the prominent general professional publications in the field of medical anthropology. The journal had been previously owned by Redgrave Publishing, a small operation that was unable to publish it on a regular basis. At the MA Editorial Board meeting at the AAA meetings in Philadelphia in 1986 it was decided that the journal could only survive if it were taken over by a new publisher, and we commenced the process whereby Gordon and Breach acquired Medical Anthropology and several other journals from Redgrave in 1988. Although I had been acting as Editor in Chief, I signed a formal contract to assume these duties in October 1988 and our first issues under our new publisher (Volume 10 Number 2,3 "The AIDS Pandemic: A Global Emergency") appeared in April 1989. With the publication of this current issue (Volume 14 Numbers 2,3,4 "Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Cultural Approaches") we have seen five volumes of the journal, each containing four issues and each running approximately 400 printed pages, published over this period of time. I am quite pleased with the quality of the articles that we have published and feel that our format and the level of production are now first-rate. Although we have achieved considerable success, things have not come easily. We have encountered changes in editorial and production personnel at Gordon and Breach, fiscal restraints at my own institution and the perennial and universal problem of slowness of reviewers. Many colleagues who have submitted manuscripts to MA have commented favorably on the extensive and useful nature of our referees' comments. Most articles have benefitted considerably from this professional feedback, and our reputation for providing ample and constructive review has contributed significantly to the re-establishment of MA as one of the primary journals in the field. Again, I wish to thank our many referees for their efforts to this end and to apologize to those whom I never formally thanked individually due to the press of time and the lack of resources. I did not assume the editorship of MA with a theoretical or political agenda, thus in reviewing the issues that have come out under my name I cannot point to the development or extension of any particular position. Although my own main research areas of interest are biological, I had no intention of pushing the journal in that direction. Perhaps my only specific goal, besides assuring the survival of the journal, was to put together an issue that covered various aspects of ethnomedicine, and this was achieved in Volume 13 Numbers 1,2 "Recent Trends in Ethnomedicine" which was guest edited by Mark Nichter. Another goal was to
Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 16:02 15 January 2015
if Note from the Editor bring human sexuality into the field of medical anthropology, which was achieved in Volume 11 Number 4 on "Human Sexuality in Biocultural Perspective," guest edited by Frances Mascia-Lees, and perhaps more forcefully in some of the articles in this current issue. I did have some agendas which I feel were largely realized. I have endeavored to include articles from authors from Third World countries and from voices that are somewhat outside of mainstream thought and settings, and I have tried diligently to prevent the journal from becoming a vehicle for established cant (or aspiring-tobe established cant) or the exclusive publication domain for a narrow set of topics, theoretical perspectives, or group of contributors. Referees were always blind to author's identity (as far as that was possible) and I was responsible for the final editorial decision on all submissions irrespective of the referees' recommendations. I feel that the articles published under my editorship covered the field of medical anthropology as it is broadly defined and that the topics that received wider coverage (AIDS) did so because of their timeliness. Approximately two-thirds of the issues published under my editorship have been special topical issues and one-third have been issues comprising unrelated articles, a situation which I think merits some comment. I can say that I have not consciously set out to create a journal that takes a thematic focus, and I suspect that the predominance of topical issues relates to what seems to be a growing tendency of the AAA sessions to be allocated to constituent societies which then give these sessions topical orientations. It is the expanded versions of these session papers that form the nuclei of many of our topical issues. A second factor contributing to the predominance of these thematic issues relates to timeliness. Two of these topical issues deal with AIDS, which is a subject of great social concern and the object of considerable social scientific enquiry. Our first issue on AIDS, "The AIDS Pandemic: A Global Emergency" guest edited by Ralph Bolton, provided an overview of the problem for a medical anthropological audience during the first decade of the epidemic. The current issue on "Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Cultural Approaches," guest edited by Ralph Bolton and Merrill Singer, provides an indication of how medical anthropologists have been actively engaged in prevention-oriented research, and serves the additional function of further incorporating human sexuality into the discourse of medical anthropology. Finally, I should say that I am most pleased that we were able to persuade Peter Brown to assume the editorship of MA. Peter is energetic, has a broad and balanced view of the field, has solid institutional support, and as a consequence of his many years of activity within the SMA will be able to articulate the journal more closely with that society. I am certain that his editorship will be successful and I wish him the very best in the arduous, but rewarding, efforts that await him. Lawrence S. Greene Churchill College, Cambridge 2 March 1992
Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gmea20
A note from the departing editor in chief Lawrence S. Greene
a
a
Churchill College , Cambridge Published online: 12 May 2010.
To cite this article: Lawrence S. Greene (1992) A note from the departing editor in chief, Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness, 14:2-4, 1-2, DOI: 10.1080/01459740.1992.9966070 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01459740.1992.9966070
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions
Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 16:02 15 January 2015
A Note from the Departing Editor in Chief This is my last issue as Editor in Chief of MA, as Peter Brown has assumed that position in October 1991; thus it is an appropriate time to reflect on our accomplishments over the past four or five years. I feel that these successes have been considerable as the journal has achieved a high degree of respectability and has reemerged as one of the prominent general professional publications in the field of medical anthropology. The journal had been previously owned by Redgrave Publishing, a small operation that was unable to publish it on a regular basis. At the MA Editorial Board meeting at the AAA meetings in Philadelphia in 1986 it was decided that the journal could only survive if it were taken over by a new publisher, and we commenced the process whereby Gordon and Breach acquired Medical Anthropology and several other journals from Redgrave in 1988. Although I had been acting as Editor in Chief, I signed a formal contract to assume these duties in October 1988 and our first issues under our new publisher (Volume 10 Number 2,3 "The AIDS Pandemic: A Global Emergency") appeared in April 1989. With the publication of this current issue (Volume 14 Numbers 2,3,4 "Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Cultural Approaches") we have seen five volumes of the journal, each containing four issues and each running approximately 400 printed pages, published over this period of time. I am quite pleased with the quality of the articles that we have published and feel that our format and the level of production are now first-rate. Although we have achieved considerable success, things have not come easily. We have encountered changes in editorial and production personnel at Gordon and Breach, fiscal restraints at my own institution and the perennial and universal problem of slowness of reviewers. Many colleagues who have submitted manuscripts to MA have commented favorably on the extensive and useful nature of our referees' comments. Most articles have benefitted considerably from this professional feedback, and our reputation for providing ample and constructive review has contributed significantly to the re-establishment of MA as one of the primary journals in the field. Again, I wish to thank our many referees for their efforts to this end and to apologize to those whom I never formally thanked individually due to the press of time and the lack of resources. I did not assume the editorship of MA with a theoretical or political agenda, thus in reviewing the issues that have come out under my name I cannot point to the development or extension of any particular position. Although my own main research areas of interest are biological, I had no intention of pushing the journal in that direction. Perhaps my only specific goal, besides assuring the survival of the journal, was to put together an issue that covered various aspects of ethnomedicine, and this was achieved in Volume 13 Numbers 1,2 "Recent Trends in Ethnomedicine" which was guest edited by Mark Nichter. Another goal was to
Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 16:02 15 January 2015
if Note from the Editor bring human sexuality into the field of medical anthropology, which was achieved in Volume 11 Number 4 on "Human Sexuality in Biocultural Perspective," guest edited by Frances Mascia-Lees, and perhaps more forcefully in some of the articles in this current issue. I did have some agendas which I feel were largely realized. I have endeavored to include articles from authors from Third World countries and from voices that are somewhat outside of mainstream thought and settings, and I have tried diligently to prevent the journal from becoming a vehicle for established cant (or aspiring-tobe established cant) or the exclusive publication domain for a narrow set of topics, theoretical perspectives, or group of contributors. Referees were always blind to author's identity (as far as that was possible) and I was responsible for the final editorial decision on all submissions irrespective of the referees' recommendations. I feel that the articles published under my editorship covered the field of medical anthropology as it is broadly defined and that the topics that received wider coverage (AIDS) did so because of their timeliness. Approximately two-thirds of the issues published under my editorship have been special topical issues and one-third have been issues comprising unrelated articles, a situation which I think merits some comment. I can say that I have not consciously set out to create a journal that takes a thematic focus, and I suspect that the predominance of topical issues relates to what seems to be a growing tendency of the AAA sessions to be allocated to constituent societies which then give these sessions topical orientations. It is the expanded versions of these session papers that form the nuclei of many of our topical issues. A second factor contributing to the predominance of these thematic issues relates to timeliness. Two of these topical issues deal with AIDS, which is a subject of great social concern and the object of considerable social scientific enquiry. Our first issue on AIDS, "The AIDS Pandemic: A Global Emergency" guest edited by Ralph Bolton, provided an overview of the problem for a medical anthropological audience during the first decade of the epidemic. The current issue on "Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Cultural Approaches," guest edited by Ralph Bolton and Merrill Singer, provides an indication of how medical anthropologists have been actively engaged in prevention-oriented research, and serves the additional function of further incorporating human sexuality into the discourse of medical anthropology. Finally, I should say that I am most pleased that we were able to persuade Peter Brown to assume the editorship of MA. Peter is energetic, has a broad and balanced view of the field, has solid institutional support, and as a consequence of his many years of activity within the SMA will be able to articulate the journal more closely with that society. I am certain that his editorship will be successful and I wish him the very best in the arduous, but rewarding, efforts that await him. Lawrence S. Greene Churchill College, Cambridge 2 March 1992
