Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1979, 46:119--121 Q Elsevier/North-Holland Scientific Publishers, Ltd.
119
THIRTY YEARS This issue of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology marks its 30th anniversary. Established 74 years after the discovery of the EEG in animals and 20 years after its confirmation in man, this was the first journal to devote itself to the electrical manifestations of cerebral activity. According to the title page of its first issue: 'This Journal was inaugurated in June 1947 by the Executive Committee of the International EEG Organization at their first meeting in London'. In fact, this statement is mildly incorrect in all its details. The meeting in question was sponsored by the EEG Society, already 5 years old, and attracted over 100 workers from 17 countries. Entitled 'International meeting on electroencephalography', it t o o k place at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in L o n d o n from July 14 to 16, 1947, under the chairmanship of Adrian. On the first morning there was an open discussion on the desirability of setting up a 'World EEG Organisation' and an International Journal. No conclusion was reached and the matters were referred to an ad hoc committee, convened by Grey Walter, for further consideration. A positive decision on the Journal was reached relatively easily, no d o u b t partly because Herbert Jasper and a number of collaborators had already done a considerable a m o u n t of preliminary planning. The meeting endorsed Jasper's enterprise and confirmed him as Editor. The present title of the Journal was chosen and an Editorial Board was set up with a fine regard for internationalism but not much for the editor who would have to correspond with thirty people scattered around the world. The International Organization was a quite different, matter; according to the report of Grey Walter at the time, the 'subject evoked an energetic, candid and tiring discussion'. . . . 'It was pointed out t h a t although (the)
various opinions could be stigmatized as reactionary, cynical, pessimistic, sentimental, romantic or fantastic the fact remained that an international committee was actually in session and had already performed certain useful functions.' Nevertheless, the only decision reached was to postpone further discussion until the 2nd International Congress which, as had been agreed, should be held two years later. The Second Congress was held in Paris in September 1949; by this time there had been much more international exchange of views and the consensus was now in favour; no doubt this was in part because the International Journal was no longer a dream but a reality; the first issue had appeared in February and others in May and August. Thus, at the meeting in the Salle Goncourt of the Restaurant Drouant at which the International Federation was set up, Jasper was able to hand over the Journal to the new Federation as its official organ, an offer which was accepted the more readily since it involved no financial obligations. Jasper was editor-inchief with the added responsibility for production and distribution; Grey Walter was co-editor, concerned with papers from Europe, and the managing editor was Bob Schwab. Geoffrey Parr and E.J. Baldes, in Europe and America respectively, looked after Technical Notes. John K n o t t edited Society Proceedings and Charles Henry industriously collected material for the Index of Current Literature. Strongly international in its goals, the decision had been taken to publish in English, French and Spanish. On this rock Schwab's initial agreements through the American EEG Society with Williams and Wilkins as the publishers foundered. The estimated cost for printing in any but the English language was clearly excessive, in relation to the probable
120 number of extra subscriptions at that time. Although a prospectus had already been sent out to libraries, an agreement had to be made with these publishers to dissolve the contract, which they did with grace. Bilingual Canada came to the rescue and, entirely through Jasper's influence, arrangements were made with M. Jean-Paul Fr~chette, manager of Th~rien Fr~res, a printing company in St. Laurent, Quebec, who agreed to print portions in French and Spanish without additional cost (in the event, Spanish has never been used). And what was the estimated cost to the printer? An annual sum of 5,250 dollars. And the subscription? $ 8.00 a year members of EEG Societies and technicians paid $ 6.00. This arrangement with a printing firm was possible only by making a deposit. A group of American and Canadian EEGers therefore made individual interest-free loans of $ 1 0 0 0 each. It is indicative of the immediate success of the venture that the Journal was able to repay these loans within 3 years. The very first issue established the pattern of the Journal which continues to this day. In one respect, however, it differed: Jasper very wisely gave it a good start by filling much of this issue with the papers from a symposium on 'The physiological basis of epileptic discharge', chaired by Ralph Gerard and led off by Wilder Penfield. The famous names followed throughout the year: McCulloch, Forbes, Bremer, Bishop, Moruzzi, Magoun, Lindsley and m a n y others, and the Journal was safely established on its course, a judicious mixture of the human and animal, the clinical and experimental. In later years only original papers have been accepted and the contributions to symposia and congresses have been assigned to special supplements, of which the 34th appeared recently. There can be no d o u b t that the initial success of the Journal can be attributed to two men: Jasper with his persistent drive for international science and Schwab, as Managing Editor, with his ebullient enthusiasm. The early 'managerial' activities t o o k place under -
EDITORIAL an eave of the famous old Bulfinch Building at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. There, in a nook without even a door to partition it from the corridor (but with a skull-cracking, low sloping roof) Schwab organized the subscription lists, wooed advertisers, enrolled new subscribers and master-minded all the many details that would have discouraged a man with less energy and devotion to the goal.
-
A design for the cover logo, much favoured in 1948.
In those post-war years the exchange of foreign currency was not simple. Arrangements were made by Henri Gastaut to collect subscriptions from Europe through an agency in Paris. By February 1949, 55 subscriptions (from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland) had been paid in this way. Unfortunately, by the time the money reached Schwab he found that the Paris agency had taken a 25% commission. This arrangement was hastily dropped and Tony R~mond undertook to be the collector of subscriptions from Europe. In 1956 Peter Gloor became Editorial Assistant and at about the same time Walter resigned so that, for a short time, there was no European Editor. This post was reestablished in 1958 by the joint appointment of Storm van Leeuwen and Otto Magnus. By 1959 the Journal had grown from the 524 pages of the first year to 856 pages and an announcement was inserted curtailing the
'THE EEG JOURNAL' 30 YEARS permissible length of articles. In practice, this was never adhered to very rigidly. Jasper's many other commitments were pressing on him heavily and finally it was arranged to transfer publication to Elsevier Publishing Company in Amsterdam, the Fede r a t i o n retaining control of Journal policy. The amateur phase, so well carried on by Jasper and his Managing Editor in Montreal, Mrs. Denton, had come to an end. The first number under the new imprint was in January 1961 and, for the first and only time, Jasper allowed himself to write an explanatory editorial, under the title 'Letter from the Editors'. He remained as Editor-in-Chief, with Storm van Leeuwen in Europe and Cosimo Ajmone Marsan as the new editor in the U.S.A. Henry continued to be responsible for the Index and Book Reviews. In its new, though little changed form, the Journal had almost 1000 pages and was published in 6 issues per year. The following year there were nearly 1100 pages, for the last time in a single volume. The relationship with Elsevier Publishing Company which began 18 years ago has proved to be a singularly happy one; disagreements have been few and easily resolved and we have always been made to feel a significant part of what is a very large enterprise.
121 Since that time the history of the Journal has been charted in a valedictory tribute to Jasper in 1962, when he finally gave up editorial responsibility (Vol. XIV, p. 304), and in the 4-yearly reports of the editors (1966, 20: 298; 1970, 28: 543; 1974, 37: 527). In 1947 grave doubts had been expressed whether there was any gap for the Journal to fill, but gap there undoubtedly was and the Journal flourished. In recent years many new journals have appeared, both national and international, with interests at least in part similar to those of the Journal; at the same time inflation has caused m a n y libraries to reduce the numbers of their subscriptions. Nevertheless, the coverage of the nervous system has widened into fields undreamt of in 1949, the supply of papers goes on increasing and subscriptions have been maintained; the Journal can enter its fourth decade confident in its continued success. M.A.B. Brazier Editor-in-Chief W.A. Cobb Publications Manager
119
THIRTY YEARS This issue of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology marks its 30th anniversary. Established 74 years after the discovery of the EEG in animals and 20 years after its confirmation in man, this was the first journal to devote itself to the electrical manifestations of cerebral activity. According to the title page of its first issue: 'This Journal was inaugurated in June 1947 by the Executive Committee of the International EEG Organization at their first meeting in London'. In fact, this statement is mildly incorrect in all its details. The meeting in question was sponsored by the EEG Society, already 5 years old, and attracted over 100 workers from 17 countries. Entitled 'International meeting on electroencephalography', it t o o k place at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in L o n d o n from July 14 to 16, 1947, under the chairmanship of Adrian. On the first morning there was an open discussion on the desirability of setting up a 'World EEG Organisation' and an International Journal. No conclusion was reached and the matters were referred to an ad hoc committee, convened by Grey Walter, for further consideration. A positive decision on the Journal was reached relatively easily, no d o u b t partly because Herbert Jasper and a number of collaborators had already done a considerable a m o u n t of preliminary planning. The meeting endorsed Jasper's enterprise and confirmed him as Editor. The present title of the Journal was chosen and an Editorial Board was set up with a fine regard for internationalism but not much for the editor who would have to correspond with thirty people scattered around the world. The International Organization was a quite different, matter; according to the report of Grey Walter at the time, the 'subject evoked an energetic, candid and tiring discussion'. . . . 'It was pointed out t h a t although (the)
various opinions could be stigmatized as reactionary, cynical, pessimistic, sentimental, romantic or fantastic the fact remained that an international committee was actually in session and had already performed certain useful functions.' Nevertheless, the only decision reached was to postpone further discussion until the 2nd International Congress which, as had been agreed, should be held two years later. The Second Congress was held in Paris in September 1949; by this time there had been much more international exchange of views and the consensus was now in favour; no doubt this was in part because the International Journal was no longer a dream but a reality; the first issue had appeared in February and others in May and August. Thus, at the meeting in the Salle Goncourt of the Restaurant Drouant at which the International Federation was set up, Jasper was able to hand over the Journal to the new Federation as its official organ, an offer which was accepted the more readily since it involved no financial obligations. Jasper was editor-inchief with the added responsibility for production and distribution; Grey Walter was co-editor, concerned with papers from Europe, and the managing editor was Bob Schwab. Geoffrey Parr and E.J. Baldes, in Europe and America respectively, looked after Technical Notes. John K n o t t edited Society Proceedings and Charles Henry industriously collected material for the Index of Current Literature. Strongly international in its goals, the decision had been taken to publish in English, French and Spanish. On this rock Schwab's initial agreements through the American EEG Society with Williams and Wilkins as the publishers foundered. The estimated cost for printing in any but the English language was clearly excessive, in relation to the probable
120 number of extra subscriptions at that time. Although a prospectus had already been sent out to libraries, an agreement had to be made with these publishers to dissolve the contract, which they did with grace. Bilingual Canada came to the rescue and, entirely through Jasper's influence, arrangements were made with M. Jean-Paul Fr~chette, manager of Th~rien Fr~res, a printing company in St. Laurent, Quebec, who agreed to print portions in French and Spanish without additional cost (in the event, Spanish has never been used). And what was the estimated cost to the printer? An annual sum of 5,250 dollars. And the subscription? $ 8.00 a year members of EEG Societies and technicians paid $ 6.00. This arrangement with a printing firm was possible only by making a deposit. A group of American and Canadian EEGers therefore made individual interest-free loans of $ 1 0 0 0 each. It is indicative of the immediate success of the venture that the Journal was able to repay these loans within 3 years. The very first issue established the pattern of the Journal which continues to this day. In one respect, however, it differed: Jasper very wisely gave it a good start by filling much of this issue with the papers from a symposium on 'The physiological basis of epileptic discharge', chaired by Ralph Gerard and led off by Wilder Penfield. The famous names followed throughout the year: McCulloch, Forbes, Bremer, Bishop, Moruzzi, Magoun, Lindsley and m a n y others, and the Journal was safely established on its course, a judicious mixture of the human and animal, the clinical and experimental. In later years only original papers have been accepted and the contributions to symposia and congresses have been assigned to special supplements, of which the 34th appeared recently. There can be no d o u b t that the initial success of the Journal can be attributed to two men: Jasper with his persistent drive for international science and Schwab, as Managing Editor, with his ebullient enthusiasm. The early 'managerial' activities t o o k place under -
EDITORIAL an eave of the famous old Bulfinch Building at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. There, in a nook without even a door to partition it from the corridor (but with a skull-cracking, low sloping roof) Schwab organized the subscription lists, wooed advertisers, enrolled new subscribers and master-minded all the many details that would have discouraged a man with less energy and devotion to the goal.
-
A design for the cover logo, much favoured in 1948.
In those post-war years the exchange of foreign currency was not simple. Arrangements were made by Henri Gastaut to collect subscriptions from Europe through an agency in Paris. By February 1949, 55 subscriptions (from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland) had been paid in this way. Unfortunately, by the time the money reached Schwab he found that the Paris agency had taken a 25% commission. This arrangement was hastily dropped and Tony R~mond undertook to be the collector of subscriptions from Europe. In 1956 Peter Gloor became Editorial Assistant and at about the same time Walter resigned so that, for a short time, there was no European Editor. This post was reestablished in 1958 by the joint appointment of Storm van Leeuwen and Otto Magnus. By 1959 the Journal had grown from the 524 pages of the first year to 856 pages and an announcement was inserted curtailing the
'THE EEG JOURNAL' 30 YEARS permissible length of articles. In practice, this was never adhered to very rigidly. Jasper's many other commitments were pressing on him heavily and finally it was arranged to transfer publication to Elsevier Publishing Company in Amsterdam, the Fede r a t i o n retaining control of Journal policy. The amateur phase, so well carried on by Jasper and his Managing Editor in Montreal, Mrs. Denton, had come to an end. The first number under the new imprint was in January 1961 and, for the first and only time, Jasper allowed himself to write an explanatory editorial, under the title 'Letter from the Editors'. He remained as Editor-in-Chief, with Storm van Leeuwen in Europe and Cosimo Ajmone Marsan as the new editor in the U.S.A. Henry continued to be responsible for the Index and Book Reviews. In its new, though little changed form, the Journal had almost 1000 pages and was published in 6 issues per year. The following year there were nearly 1100 pages, for the last time in a single volume. The relationship with Elsevier Publishing Company which began 18 years ago has proved to be a singularly happy one; disagreements have been few and easily resolved and we have always been made to feel a significant part of what is a very large enterprise.
121 Since that time the history of the Journal has been charted in a valedictory tribute to Jasper in 1962, when he finally gave up editorial responsibility (Vol. XIV, p. 304), and in the 4-yearly reports of the editors (1966, 20: 298; 1970, 28: 543; 1974, 37: 527). In 1947 grave doubts had been expressed whether there was any gap for the Journal to fill, but gap there undoubtedly was and the Journal flourished. In recent years many new journals have appeared, both national and international, with interests at least in part similar to those of the Journal; at the same time inflation has caused m a n y libraries to reduce the numbers of their subscriptions. Nevertheless, the coverage of the nervous system has widened into fields undreamt of in 1949, the supply of papers goes on increasing and subscriptions have been maintained; the Journal can enter its fourth decade confident in its continued success. M.A.B. Brazier Editor-in-Chief W.A. Cobb Publications Manager
