Blackwell Publishing Selected as the New Publisher of Journal of Travel Medicine

Charles Ericsson, MD

The Publications Committee is pleased to announce that Blackwell Publishing will be the publisher for the Journal of Travel Medicine beginning in January 2006 (see Highlights from Executive Committee). Our current publisher, BC Decker Inc, has served the needs of ISTM very well over the past decade. Since BC Decker's contract was up for renewal, ISTM was presented with an opportunity to explore other potential publishers. After an arduous and detailed review of proposals from a number of excellent medical publishers, including a competitive proposal from BC Decker, a select task force of ISTM members and an outside advisor recommended Blackwell. A contract with Blackwell has been signed by ISTM.

Many thanks are owed to ISTM members David Freedman, Robert Steffen, Steve Ostroff, Herbert DuPont, Brad Connor, and Frank von Sonnenberg, and advisor Gregg Talley, all of whom worked hard to analyze the proposals. Kudos go especially to the excellent skills of our new secretary/treasurer, David Freedman (see article about David Freedman), who was instrumental in negotiating a favorable financial package. Our new contract promises to yield an excellent product of which we can continue to be proud, and at a price that we hope will free up precious ISTM funds to pursue other ISTM priorities.

Blackwell Publishing is the world's leading society publisher, family-owned and independent. They partner with more than 600 societies to publish more than 750 journals, texts and reference books annually, across a wide range of academic, medical, and professional subjects.

Blackwell has a staff of 950 in nine offices scattered around the globe and possesses high quality production capabilities, utilizing leading-edge technology. Their streamlined editorial and production processes rapidly deliver citable online content to readers before articles appear in print. ISTM is especially interested in such publication capabilities to raise our journal's impact factor. A journal's impact factor is important to a number of academic authors as they face increasingly rigorous requirements of institutional promotions committees. Blackwell's mission as an expert publisher is to create long-term partnerships with their clients to enhance learning, disseminate research, and improve the quality of professional practice.

Blackwell has successful global sales and marketing teams. They are represented in more than 2,200 library sites worldwide and have more than 750,000 registered users, and the number of users is rising. In 2004, Blackwell enjoyed 36 million full-text article downloads. ISTM is proud to have partnered with such a leader in the publishing field. We look forward to years of a productive and fruitful relationship.

Charlie is the chairperson of the Publication Committee.