From the Archives / History of The JI

Minutes of The JI Editorial Board (3/24/1937), Annotated

by John S. Emrich, Bryan Peery, and Emily McGowan
January 2014 (web only)

The following is an annotated transcription of the minutes of the March 24, 1937, meeting of the editorial board of The Journal of Immunology. The minutes are reproduced as “What’s Old is New Again: Early Editors of The JI Act to Address Perennial Challenges in the Peer-Review and Editing Process,” the first article in the new “From the Archives” series, which appeared in the January/February 2014 issue of the AAI Newsletter.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING
OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE
JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY
March 24th, 1937

The first meeting of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Immunology was held in the Hotel Drake in Chicago at luncheon, March 24, 1937. Present were Sanford B. Hooker, presiding, O. T. Avery, Francis G. Blake, Jacques Bronfenbrenner, Donald T. Fraser, Arthur P. Locke, Carl Ten Broeck, A. B. Wadsworth, A. F. Coca, Paul R. Cannon and the following: Philip Levine, Leo Loeb, Kenneth Goodner, Frank Maltaner, all of whom had acted as referees for certain special papers submitted to the Journal. Present as guest of honor was also Ludvig Hektoen, who offered numerous helpful suggestions out of his long editorial experience.

There was an extended discussion of the question whether authors of rejected papers should be informed as to the reason for the rejection. It was the majority opinion that as a rule the reasons for the rejection, as stated by the referees or associate editors, should not be given verbatim to the authors.

There was considerable difference of opinion as to whether papers should be edited for clearness of expression. Examples of such editorial revisions were shown to those present. It was agreed that the thorough editorial work of Doctors Hooker, Berry and Blake, illustrated in the submitted samples, is of great value to the Journal and its readers, and of educational value to the authors. No formal action was taken on this question.

Respectfully submittedMinutes of the First Editorial Board of The JI, March 24, 1937
AAI Archive

Arthur F. Coca
Editor-in-Chief

See also:

• The full article: “What’s Old is New Again: Early Editors of The JI Act to Address Perennial Challenges in the Peer-Review and Editing Process”
• Annotated Minutes of the Second Editorial Board Meeting of The Journal of Immunology, December 28, 1937