This is the IUBMB

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Life, 49: 1–3, 2000 Copyright ° c 2000 IUBMB 1521-6543/00 $12.00 + .00 IUBMB

This is the IUBMB Publishing in Science Angelo Azzi

PUBLISHING WITHIN IUBMB: THE PERSONS At the beginning and up to 1982, the General Secretary and Treasurer ran the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB), with inputs from the President. From 1982 until his death, in 1990, G¨unter Wittmann was the Ž rst to be given the speciŽ c publication portfolio. Edward C. Slater took over the function (without its title) during his period as President. The successor to G¨unter Wittmann was Ralph A. Bradshaw, in ofŽ ce between 1991 and 1997, when I was elected to succeed him. PUBLISHING WITHIN IUBMB: THE JOURNALS Biochemical Education (Editor-in-Chief Edward Wood, published by Elsevier Science) publishes articles and reviews to assist in the teaching of biochemistry to science and medical students in universities, colleges, and similar establishments throughout the world, especially on teaching techniques and practice and on methods of assessment. Biochemical Education publishes tried and tested class-practical experiments for practical teaching purposes and concise reviews on key areas of biochemical knowledge aimed at keeping teachers abreast of developments. BioFactors (Editors-in-Chief Leopold Floh´e, Etsuo Niki, and William J. Whelan, published by IOS Press) is an international journal aimed at identifying and increasing our understanding of the precise biochemical effects and roles of the large number of trace substances that are required by living organisms. These include vitamins and trace elements, as well as growth factors and regulatory substances made by cells themselves. The elucidation, in a particular organism or cell line, of the roles of substances active in trace quantities is frequently applicable directly to many other forms of life. In keeping with this uniŽ ed view of biochemistry, BioFactors publishes articles dealing with the identiŽ cation of new substances and the elucidation of their functions at the basic biochemical level as well as those revealing novel functions of trace substances already known. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry (Editor-in-Chief Roger Lundblad, published by Portland Press) publishes scholarly articles relating to commercial biotechnology and applied biochemistry. The journal also publishes commentary from

members of the commercial biotechnology community on registration and clinical matters. Mini-reviews provide the reader with timely updates in fast-moving areas. The focus of the journal is directed toward the publication of original articles and reviews concerning the expression, puriŽ cation, characterisation, and application of biological macromolecules in therapeutics and diagnostics. The articles considered for publication in the journal have direct and immediate relevance to the development, manufacture, and registration of such macromolecules. Trends in Biochemical Sciences (TiBS) (Editor-in-Chief Tim Hunt, a publication of Elsevier Trends Journals), established in 1976, has about 7000 subscribers and an estimated readership of 100,000, making it the most popular molecular biology monthly review journal. It publishes short reviews, comments, and analysis at the cutting edge of biochemistry and molecular biology research in an easy-to-read, full-colour format. It is addressed to a broad audience, making TIBS an easy way to keep up with important discoveries in biochemistry and an excellent teaching tool for lecturers and their students. Molecular Aspects of Medicine (Editor-in-Chief Angelo Azzi, published bimonthly by Elsevier Science) is a review journal for physicians and biomedical scientists. Its primary objective is to encourage the bridging of the gap between clinicians of all relevant specialities and biomedical scientists working in areas from biochemistry and molecular and cell biology to physiology, pharmacology, and pathology. Each issue is an extended review on the molecular aspects of a Ž eld of medicine in which the authors are working, addressing themselves both to the doctor who is ill-at-ease with basic science and to the basic scientist with little awareness of the problems of clinical practice. IUBMB Life (Editor-in-Chief Kelvin Davies, published by Taylor and Francis Journals, Inc.) is the newest IUBMB Journal. As the successor to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology International, it is devoted to the rapid publication of the most novel and signiŽ cant original research articles, critical reviews, and hypothesis papers in the broadly deŽ ned Ž elds of biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and molecular medicine. IUBMB Life especially encourages articles that integrate several biological disciplines or successfully relate basic biology to human pathology or medicine.

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AZZI

PUBLISHING WITHIN IUBMB: PHILOSOPHY AND IDEAS Publishing has been a very early activity of mankind. The Ž rst human beings communicated with their neighbours by sending signals with the help of Ž re, smoke, or sound. Thereafter they discovered how messages could be kept in a durable form, revived, and sent after the signals or the words were gone. This method is called writing and the distribution of the written information publishing. It all started 5000 years ago with the Sumerians, who in southern Mesopotamia invented “word writing”. By using this invention, the initial form of publication through oral recitation was replaced by keeping written records by scribes. Ideas, knowledge, and history could be stored perpetually and passed within generations and through generations. We cannot imagine civilization without writing and publishing Although scientiŽ c publishing was already present in early civilizations (Egyptian, Greek, and Roman), what is believed to be the Ž rst scientiŽ c journal is less than 350 years old. The Royal Society of London in 1665 published the inaugural issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (1). Henry Oldenburg (1628–1678), a German native who was editor of the journal and a founder member of the Royal Society, had to accomplish a scientiŽ c selection of the submitted members’ research articles (2). He Ž nanced the journal and was permitted to proŽ t from it, but this never happened. Without ethical codes or copyright laws, complaints about theft of ideas and discoveries were frequent. With scientiŽ c journals, however, a sense of concerted scientiŽ c progress in science started to develop, towards the understanding of nature (3). Together with this dawn of devotion to studying and recording natural phenomena and the emergence of a pact of fairness among scientists, problems were born as well. They have been engendered by the increase in size of the scientiŽ c community and by the development of societies of science supporters and consumers. If we consider that only the biochemical and molecular societies associated with IUBMB or FASEB have approximately 70 000 members for each union, we may have some idea of the proportions that science, and in particular biological sciences, have achieved. The concept of the development of science supporters and consumers is best illustrated by describing the transfer of knowledge at a world medical congress. Companies in the order of hundreds target their exhibitions, advertisement, and products, addressed not only to scientists (in the order of thousands) but also to medical doctors and media experts (in the order of hundreds of thousands), who ultimately will transfer the basic science knowledge to an immense population (millions, billions) of normal and ill individuals. JustiŽ ably therefore, controlled scientiŽ c publishing, in the world bazaar of producers and consumers of scientiŽ c information, is essential as a unique reference point for everybody. The advent of electronic information and the World Wide Web opened an opportunity for better distribution of information but brought with it a new challenge for scientiŽ c publishing, that of uncontrolled proliferation and the undisciplined circulation of scientiŽ c reports. The latter may mislead both science beginners and science

users and render discernment more difŽ cult even to the senior scientist. In general, the publication of scientiŽ c journals should be in the control of not-for-pro Ž t organisations. A partnership with a commercial publisher is appropriate where necessary, provided that the copyright owner is free to change publisher, looking for the best conditions of quality, distribution, and Ž nancial rewards (4, 5). The role of not-for-proŽ t organizations, such as IUBMB, in publishing journals on behalf of scientists is a mission, not shadowed by commercial interests, of spreading valid scientiŽ c information as widely, rapidly, and conveniently as possible. In the distribution of such information, a not-for-proŽ t organization will support, even favour countries of low scientiŽ c development, independent of their economic potentiality. Science being the “product” to be distributed by a not-for-proŽ t organization, the means by which this action is realised are varied. Distribution of science can be realised through publications, schools, and congresses; facilitated visits of young scientists to host institutions; and other means. What is invariant, even essential for not-for-proŽ t organizations is the possibility of obtaining revenues from one Ž nancially rewarding action that can be reinvested in others. For instance, royalties obtained from scientiŽ c journals are currently reinvested in supporting advanced schools, congresses, and fellowships. Further, the plurality of scientiŽ c not-for-proŽ t organizations offers the opportunity of reaching different targets with a more focused action. Electronic publishing is a reality and it does not help to ignore it. E-Biomed/E-Bioscience (http://www.nih.gov/welcome/ director/ebiomed/ebiomed.htm) and Ž nally PubMed Central are therefore welcomed as a prototypic proposal that may be made suitable to coordinate what is already taking place through the initiative of publishers and scientiŽ c societies. All existing scientiŽ c journals should (and most probably will shortly) become available on line. However, a searchable repository does not necessarily have to be physically located in a given place but can have a virtual location established through appropriate links. Mirror sites are also an example of non-perceived delocalization. It is neither possible nor desirable to eliminate existing journals, but in the free-market dynamic of most of our societies, new forms of purely electronic journals are welcomed. Accepting the electronic repository of peer-reviewed material only or linking only with sites containing peer-reviewed material appears to be the appropriate path for science to take. The threat of non-peer-reviewe d material in such a repository would create a torrent of low-quality information and is a system capable of abuse in terms of priorities. Most scientists have servers available in their institutions, where all types of non-peer-reviewed information can be deposited (individual home pages and similar locations). This information is public and accessible through the well-known search engines. The peer-review system is still the only guarantee of an attempt of quality control. By operating through Ž lters of different rigor, high- to low-quality journals are created, representing per se never absolute but always

THIS IS THE IUBMB

important information for the scientist. The existence of multiple and competing journals should not be abandoned. In all cases, whether of printed or electronic publishing, there can be no departure from the principle of the author retaining copyright on articles published in the repository, either directly or indirectly. Copyright is not only a property and a fundamental right strictly linked with scientiŽ c creativeness; it is also an incentive for researchers, like scientiŽ c prizes, to further the frontier of knowledge. Collaboration between publishers, research councils, and governmental and intergovernmental organizations should be the basis of the funding needed for such an operation and scientiŽ c not-for-proŽ t organizations must be involved. Corresponding mixed governance should be established, so as not to neglect, in the progression of the project, essential viewpoints of the multifaceted scientiŽ c society. It is essential that concrete access to the system is available in less-developed countries to avoid increasing the already existing scientiŽ c gap. Finally, Varmus’ idea of an electronic publication repository, which apparently will initiate in January 2000 under the name of PubMed Central, should in its evolution develop intrinsic mechanisms for maintaining a pluralism of approaches and competition among qualiŽ ed scientiŽ c journals. The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society survived the London plague of 1665, the great Ž re of London in 1666, and the imprisonment of Oldenburg in the Tower, for a month, in 1667 and they are still published (6). The Philosophical

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Transactions of the Royal Society and other society journals have to survive, at least with their identity, the electronic communication era. REFERENCES 1. Meadows, A. J., ed. (1980) Development of Science Publishing in Europe. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 2. Moran, M. G. (1981) The Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, and some origins of the modern technical paper. Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Technical Communication Conference. pp. E82–86, Society for Technical Communication , Arlington, VA. 3. Hall, A. R., and Hall, M. B., eds. (1965–1986) The Correspondenc e of Henry Oldenburg , 13 vols. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison; Mansell, Milwaukee; and Taylor & Francis, London. 4. Whelan, W. J. (1993) Publish or perish. FASEB J. 7, 1423. 5. Whelan, W. J. (1994) Authors and editors of the world unite! FASEB J, 8, 989–990. 6. Hall, A. R., and Hall, M. B. (1965) The Correspondenc e of Henry Oldenburg, Vol. 3. p. 471, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.

Angelo Azzi Publications OfŽ cer Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Bern B¨uhlstrasse 28 3012 Bern, Switzerland