I have laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations.
Samuel Johnson 1709–1784
As I prepare to ride into the sunset on my electric bicycle, I ponder the changes that have taken place in The CVJ, some of the issues that have affected or are affecting the profession, and the numerous people I have worked with and whose friendship, company, and support I’ve enjoyed since 1991.
My predecessor had set very high standards, so the challenge was to maintain them; as chair of the Editorial Committee, he did his bit to ensure that we did ours by sending us a note after the publication of each issue, drawing our attention to the ‘i’s’ and ‘t’s’ we had omitted to dot and cross — very aggravating, but effective in keeping us on our toes!
In my view, the 2 most significant positive events for The CVJ in the last 16 years were the publisher’s decisions 1) to accept the recommendation to make advertising the sole work commitment of the advertising manager, and 2) to accept the recommendation to enter negotiations with PubMed Central for the electronic archiving and free access publishing of The CVJ and the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research.
The first resulted in increased advertising revenues, which resulted in The CVJ’s excess of expenditure over revenue that existed in the early ’90s changing to an ever increasing excess in revenue over expenditure over the years. The increase in revenue allowed The CVJ to negotiate an increase in the number of pages from the accepted 64 per issue, thus permitting it to publish more peer reviewed, feature, and other articles. In 2006, volume 47 had an average of 103.5 pages per issue. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, but, provided the standard for articles is maintained, there should be a better chance of something of interest for everyone being in each issue.
The second provided the journals with increased visibility and accessibility, which resulted in an increased number of submissions for consideration for publication and from a greater number of foreign countries (22 in 2006). In my view, this indirectly enables the CVMA to have a positive impact on the standard of veterinary medicine and surgery practised in many less well developed countries.
As for issues affecting the profession; in the last 16 years, bovine practitioners have been negatively affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy; there has been an apparent shortage of food animal practitioners in certain parts of the country; a new veterinary school has been established in Alberta; the threat of antimicrobial resistance to human and animal health has become more apparent; the profession has moved steadily towards having a majority of female members; the veterinary medical associations have striven to improve the lot of private practitioners through better business practices; the number of private referral practices and clinical specialists has increased, to the detriment of veterinary teaching hospitals; a shortage of pathologists and veterinary research scientists has developed; the profession has become aware of the need to prepare itself to contend with national disasters due to terrorism, disease, or natural causes; and too many veterinarians in Quebec and Ontario still do not support their national association, in spite of the fact that they benefit from its activities and it is the voice of the profession on their behalf with the federal government, other national organizations, and internationally.
The truism ‘no man is an island’ was brought home to me constantly, being dependent, as I was, on the support and dedication of authors, reviewers, editors, and managers in various capacities and with varying responsibilities, translators, and administrative and production personnel for the content and appearance of each issue. They’ve certainly made my job easier and more pleasurable, for which I am truly grateful, albeit the going wasn’t always downhill and with the wind. Extreme tardiness, sometimes more than 6 months, and, occasionally, failure to respond at all on the part of reviewers does not endear them or the journal to affected authors, while the failure of an author to meet a commitment disappoints readers and embarrasses editors.
I hope The CVJ is considered to be a good publication by the profession at large, but with my successor at the helm and with the present crew on board, I am confident that it will be a better one in the future.
I move on with happy memories of the camaraderie, encouragement, and help I enjoyed with and from, first, the folks at 339, whether it was their daily cheerfulness, fixing the temperamental copy machine for me, joining in with Good King Wenceslas, sleigh rides, and all that, or enjoying the hospitality of the CVMA; second, my peers on the Editorial Committee; and third, the officers and councillors of the CVMA. Thank you all!