The Birth of a Journal - Maturation and Change Establish the Identity of the JBMR - The Third Phase

The Birth of a Journal Larry Raisz Editor‐in‐Chief (1986–1995) The idea of having a journal for ASBMR was brought up even before the Society was founded. Over the next 5 years, there were many discussions, and a number of efforts were made to develop a relationship with existing journals or to negotiate joint sponsorship of a journal with another society. The sticking point was editorial control. We felt that the ASBMR should have control over the selection of the Editor and Associate Editors, and the publishers of the existing journals were not particularly interested in this. Thus, the decision was made to start a new journal in 1985. We solicited proposals from a number of publishers, and almost accidentally found Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., a new publishing firm that was eager to take on the JBMR. In the early days, both the editorial office and the publisher were small, “mom and pop” operations. Linda Graver did all the correspondence and kept all the records in a room not much larger than a closet at the University of Connecticut Health Center. We had a wonderful group of Associate Editors and two in‐house Deputy Editors, Barbara Kream and Joe Lorenzo, who kept things going. The main and often difficult task of the Associate Editors was to adjudicate disagreements among reviewers or between the reviewers and the editor, who probably stuck his nose in too often.