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Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 495-496, 1999
© 1999 Medical Council on Alcoholism
Editorial
THANK YOU Dr SPENCER MADDEN AND WELCOME Dr JONATHAN CHICK
Thank you Dr J. Spencer Madden
This issue of Alcohol and Alcoholism represents a landmark in the history of the journal. It is the first issue for a long time with which Dr J. Spencer Madden is not associated, since he formally retired as Deputy Editor at the end of June 1999 after a long and distinguished association with Alcohol and Alcoholism. It therefore gives us much pleasure to take this opportunity to mark his retirement with a few words about his remarkable contribution to the development of this journal.
Dr Madden first joined the Editorial Team of Alcohol and Alcoholism in 1982 at a crucial point in its history, shortly before its transformation from a small journal, aimed mainly at general practitioners, into an international multi-disciplinary journal published by Pergamon Press. The Editorial Team was then a small one, consisting only of ADT, AA-BB and JSM. Because of its small size, the Team divided its editorial responsibilities into the three categories or disciplines in which each member was specialized, namely clinical, biomedical and psychosocial respectively, with each member of the Team assuming full editorial and handling responsibilities in his own area. Thus, Dr Madden has been formally associated with Alcohol and Alcoholism for 18 years, agreeing to become a Deputy Editor from 1991 until only a few weeks ago.
Dr Madden's contribution to the journal has by all accounts been remarkable. He exhibited editorial and professional qualities too numerous to list here, but if we were to summarize them in a few words, we would simply say that he combined the vigilance and alertness of a competent Editor with that of an intelligent commentator tempered by the courtesy and respect of a true gentleman. He would often point out to many an author an obvious contradiction and his intellect would allow him to detect the more subtle flaws in an argument unsupported by the necessary evidence.
He has always been well-read in his field, keenly conscious and knowledgeable of its ramifications, and has consistently been instrumental in securing for the journal a constant stream of important reviews of many topics of great interest to our readership.
Above all, perhaps the most outstanding contribution Dr Madden has made to Alcohol and Alcoholism is his single-handed and single-minded assumption of guardianship of the psychosocial content of the journal. Within the initial small Editorial Team, he perceived himself as the only student of psychosocial science, against a majority of two essentially biomedical practitioners. When Alcohol and Alcoholism was launched in 1983, the content of that year's volume (18) had a ratio of Psychosocial/Biomedical papers of 1:3.44 and of Animal/ Human papers of 1:1.28. Dr Madden took it upon himself to work towards enhancing the psychosocial content of the journal and that his efforts succeeded beyond any doubt will be clear to all readers of the journal, since we now see from volume 33 of the journal (published in 1998) that the above ratios are 1:2 and 1.4.4, respectively. The readership of Alcohol and Alcoholism therefore has Dr Madden to thank for his major efforts which led the journal to acquire its truly multi-disciplinary character, which is its major strength, and the present Editorial Team is committed to maintaining and enhancing this particular feature of the journal.
Thus, on behalf of the Editorial Team of Alcohol and Alcoholism, the Medical Council on Alcoholism and the readership of the journal, we are taking the liberty of recording here the great debt we owe to Dr J. Spencer Madden for his remarkable contribution during his distinguished editorship to the advancement of the journal to its current status as the premier European multi-disciplinary publication in its field. Although retiring officially as Deputy Editor, we are very pleased that Dr Madden will continue to support the work of Alcohol and Alcoholism as Editorial Advisor as well as Chairman of the Journal Committee.
We thank you very much Dr Spencer Madden for all you have done for the journal and wish you a long, happy and healthy retirement.
Welcome to Dr Jonathan D. Chick
Saying farewell to Dr Madden means we must look ahead. We are therefore delighted to welcome as our new Deputy Editor Dr Jonathan D. Chick, who is Consultant Psychiatrist at the Alcohol Problems Clinic of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital Trust. Dr Chick is an outstanding authority in the alcoholism field with a distinguished national and international reputation and, although his interests are primarily in psychiatry and the related psychosocial disciplines, they extend to cover a variety of spheres, including those biomedical. Dr Chick's interests will therefore perfectly fill the gap left by the retirement of Dr Madden and, above all, he will represent, maintain and promote the multi-disciplinary character of the journal, while his other wider interests will provide further support to the overall editorial process.
Dr Chick has already been an Associate Editor of this journal for the past 12 months, during which he has proved to be a meticulous, skilful and knowledgeable Editor. We and all the other members of the Editorial Team welcome Dr Chick in his new capacity as Deputy Editor and are certain that he will undoubtedly have a major impact in years to come.
The Editorial Team of Alcohol and Alcoholism is, and has always been, a strong and dedicated one and we all look forward to an exciting and progressive phase in the life of the journal as it approaches the new Millennium.
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