Thirty Years of the Journal Haemophilia

Abstract

It is interesting to reflect on the history of the journal Haemophilia on the completion of 30 years of publication.

The launch issue, Haemophilia (1995)1, 74–76, ‘Dedicated to the exchange of information concerning the comprehensive care of haemophilia’, was published by Blackwell Science and appeared in October 1994.

In 1939, Blackwell Scientific Publications (BSP), under the chairmanship of Mr Basil Blackwell, seized the opportunity to publish ‘medical and scientific research books’ when the generosity of William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, who owned the thriving car industry Morris Motors, endowed Nuffield professorial chairs in Medicine, Anaesthesia and Orthopaedics in the Oxford University Clinical School. The face of medicine in Oxford changed dramatically and, with it, the assumption that medical books would be written in greater numbers. However, during the following World War years, the BSP remained largely dormant.

BSP has always held a prominent position in haematology publication and, in 1955, the very first journal it launched was the British Journal of Haematology. Gwyn Macfarlane, a pioneer in haemophilia care in Oxford, whose book co-authored with Rosemary Biggs was also published by BSP, was an enthusiastic supporter of this new move into scientific journal publication.

My inspiration to approach BSP in the early 1990s to publish Haemophilia was that the continuing expansion of literature relating to the comprehensive care of haemophilia was distributed amongst a variety of specialist journals, and it was sometimes difficult for health care professionals to keep up to date.

I thought it was important, from the outset, that Haemophilia should become the official journal of the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) in order that the State-of-the-Art lectures and the abstracts from the biannual meeting of the Federation could be published. Shelby Dietrich, publications officer for WFH, was very supportive of the proposal. BSP wanted a North American co-editor and Doreen Brettler of the New England Hemophilia Centre agreed to edit with me. Whilst we attended the World AIDS meeting in Berlin in spring 1992, together, we discussed plans for the journal including a potential editorial board: we wanted this to be both multi-disciplinary and international.

In 1992, the journal Haemophilia was adopted as the official journal of WFH during a meeting to discuss the WFH 1990 Decade Plan in Estoril, Portugal. At my request, BSP provided a ‘mock up’ silver front cover with red lettering and using the spelling ‘haemophilia’, which was accepted.

The contents of the launch issue in October 1994 contained the report, written by Jean Lusher of the fourth joint WHO/WFH meeting held in Geneva in March 1994. The participants were physicians and scientists from seven countries, including Australia, India, Italy, Russia, Sweden, the UK and the USA and the main purpose of the meeting was to review current and future management of haemophilia and its complications. We wanted the journal to be applicable to the whole comprehensive care team working in all economies of the world toward the rational treatment of haemophilia.

Haemophilia later became the official journal of the European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders (EAHAD) in 2007.

During the last 30 years, a generation of professionals involved in the care of haemophilia have served on the editorial board and expert editorship has been provided by Craig Kessler and Mike Makris. Cedric Hermans is now the editor-in-chief.

The publishers became Wiley-Blackwell, an international scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley and Sons, as the result of the merger with Blackwell Publishing in 2007.

The process of publication in 2024 has radically changed from that of 1994. In 1994, the instructions for submission of manuscripts required one original and three paper copies of the manuscript to be submitted to the Editor(s) and the only electronic device was the availability of the fax machine. Electronic submission is now total, and gradually, paper publication has ceased.

The last 30 years have certainly fulfilled the original aims and scope of Haemophilia as ‘an international journal dedicated to the exchange of information regarding the comprehensive care of haemophilia’ and we are optimistic that this will continue well into the 21st century.

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Editor of Haemophilia 1994 to 2013.