For the first time in its long history, the editorship of the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology is moving away from the headquarters of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, although it will continue to be published by the Society through the Pharmaceutical Press.
Following the recent retirement of Dr Joseph Chamberlain after 10 years as editor (see also p196), the editorial responsibility for the JPP (and its five-year-old sister publication, Pharmacy and Pharmacology Communications) has passed to two pharmacists at the Queen's University of Belfast school of pharmacy - Professors Duncan Craig, MRPharmS, and David Jones, MPSNI. Editorial activities will be relocated to Belfast over the next few months, although a JPP office will be retained at the Society's headquarters for production purposes.
Professor Craig recently moved to Belfast as professor of biophysical pharmacy after a succession of academic posts at the School of Pharmacy, University of London. Professor Jones is the Belfast school's professor of biomaterial science. He is a chartered engineer and chartered chemist as well as a pharmacist. Both the new editors are holders of the British Pharmaceutical Conference science award.
Dr Chamberlain was only the fourth JPP editor since its establishment, initially as a quarterly publication, in 1928. The first editor, Dr Charles Hampshire, presided over a change to monthly publication in 1949. When he died in 1955 he was succeeded by Professor George Brownlee. On Brownlee's retirement in 1972 the editorship passed to Mr John Fowler, who remained in the post until his own retirement in 1990, when Dr Chamberlain took over.
In a leading article in the JPP's first issue of 2000, the new editors congratulate Dr Chamberlain on the healthy state in which he has left the journal and the high standards he has maintained during his 10-year editorship.
The photograph shows editors old and new: left to right, John Fowler, Duncan Craig, David Jones and Joseph Chamberlain