Why we are staying on

Readers of the Journal will be aware that the publisher of CMAJ dismissed our Editor-in-Chief and Senior Deputy Editor on Feb. 20, 2006. Subsequently, our Acting Editor, Editorial Fellow and 2 part-time Associate Editors resigned over a dispute with the CMA and CMA Holdings about the Journal's governance and editorial independence. So, from an original 9, we are now down to only 3 part-time scientific editors. As events unfolded in late February and early March, intense communications between the editors, the CMAJ Editorial Board (a persistent and forthright voice for change) and the CMA resulted in some immediate changes. The CMA agreed to a provisional governance plan for CMAJ (www.cmaj.ca/pdfs/governance.pdf), modelled after that put in place at JAMA 7 years ago.1 The plan has an explicit commitment by the CMA to editorial independence for the Journal. The CMA also agreed to reconstitute membership on the Journal Oversight Committee (JOC), which is intended to mediate between CMAJ and the CMA. Further, the CMA is establishing a “blue ribbon” panel2 to review the governance plan and to consider transparent processes for hiring and firing the editor in accordance with processes at other major medical journals. Acting Editor-in-Chief (Dr. Noni MacDonald) and Editor Emeritus (Dr. Bruce Squires) have been appointed to help see the Journal through to the submission of the panel's report, which is expected by the end of May 2006. It is not yet clear to what extent the CMA will publish or implement the recommendations of the review panel. We remaining scientific editors have decided to stay on through this period of transition for several reasons. Under the stewardship of our former editorial team, the Journal has risen to a respected status in the Canadian and international medical communities. Our readers have come to expect high quality articles. We want to continue working with authors in a timely way, building on the years of work that have expanded the Journal's profile and impact to current levels. Further, our in-house editorial and production staff require some stability, after weeks of uncertainty about the Journal's direction. Finally, we are committed to seeing the implementation of a governance plan that will ensure independence of all sections of the Journal and the restructuring of the JOC to strengthen its role in supporting this independence. Ken Flegel Associate Editor Erica Weir Associate Editor Eric Wooltorton Associate Editor CMAJ