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Annals of Internal Medicine at Age 75: Reflections on the Past 25 Years
- Edward J. Huth, MD; and
- Kathleen Case, MS
In its first 75 years, Annals of Internal Medicine evolved from being primarily a vehicle for papers presented at the Annual Session of the American College of Physicians to a journal in which all manuscripts are peer reviewed and decisions to publish are based solely on the editor's view of which papers are most important. This evolution was described in detail in an article published for Annal's 50th anniversary (1). The story of the journal's first 50 years was also the story of the emergence of internal medicine as a discipline; the early Annals editors represented the specialties of the time or internal medicine subspecialties (Aldred Warthin, pathology; Carl Weller, pathology; Maurice Pincoffs, tropical medicine and preventive medicine; Paul Clough, hematology; J. Russell Elkinton, nephrology; and Edward Huth, nephrology). Since 1990, the editors of Annals have been general internists when they became editors (Robert and Suzanne Fletcher, Frank Davidoff, and Harold Sox), with the associate editors representing the internal medicine subspecialties, general internal medicine, and other fields of expertise (Table 1)
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Maurice Pincoffs had the longest tenure as editor (1933–1960). Dr. Pincoffs greatly increased the number of original clinical research articles published, which he believed were the essence of internal medicine (2), and introduced review articles (the NIH Conference section). His editorial colleague, Paul Clough, wrote editorials that became compulsory reading for candidates taking the examinations of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Clough's 1957 editorial on bronchogenic carcinoma and smoking was typical of the groundbreaking developments he discussed (3).
Of all the changes in the first 50 years, however, the introduction of peer review was probably the most important for Annals' reputation. This step was taken by J. Russell Elkinton, editor from 1960 to 1971. Before accepting the editorship, he had insisted on the right …
