Editorial

As is indicated in the Notes to Contributors, this journal—Perspectives in Biology and Medicine—is devoted to publishing essays, and writings in other formats, that place biological and medical topics in broader scientific, social, or humanistic contexts. Since its founding 52 years ago, Perspectives has flourished under the three distinguished individuals who have edited it during this span: Dwight J. Ingle, Richard L. Landau, and Robert L. Perlman. It has achieved and maintained a reputation as an interdisciplinary journal of high standard and has created a forum for attempting to organize "facts into higher knowledge." During these decades, particularly exciting for all of the biological and medical sciences, the journal has always followed Ingle's original mandate:"The orientation of Perspectives will be toward man and his illnesses, but with the appreciation of the fact that the roots of medical theory reach into all fields of biology."

Indeed, especially under the last editor, it has been felt that these roots must also include the humanities and social sciences. This very broad mission, communicated and focused by the subheadings into which the contents are organized in each issue, is almost unique among biomedical journals. We are particularly pleased to note that it continues to attract many first-rate submissions and a devoted readership, as well as many "hits" from various search programs.

Despite this half-century of continuity, the journal has indeed evolved. In 2000 its publishing base moved from the Division of the Biological Sciences of the University of Chicago to the Johns Hopkins University Press, and its contents became available in Project Muse, JHUP's electronic journal program for members of the "scholarly community," as well as being archived by PubMed and other sources perhaps more familiar to the biomedical research community. The range of subjects covered has also evolved, with many special issues largely devoted to single topics, such as Clinical Research, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Medical Professionalism, but also including the eclectic mix that has always characterized this publication.

We wish now to announce another major transition for Perspectives. After long service, Robert L. Perlman will join Richard L. Landau as Editors Emeriti, and Peter V. Rabins, Professor and Vice-Chair for Academic Affairs of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has joined Alan N. Schechter as co-editor. A number of new scholars have agreed to join the Advisory and Editorial Boards, and we hope these groups will actively work with us to allow further evolution of the mandate that we have inherited. A full listing of these advisors will be published in a future issue, but as always we encourage suggestions from all for how the journal might better serve our readers.

At this junction we thank Dr. Perlman for his extraordinary role in facilitating this as well as past transitions for Perspectives, and we hope that we may maintain his standards.