Hail and Farewell!

Article Outline

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Throughout his career, Jim Cox’s distinguished contributions to learned societies, to education, and to research elevated to the status of radiation oncology and have received many accolades. To those expressions of gratitude, we may now add our deep appreciation for his outstanding leadership of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics. (IJROBP), during the past 15 years.

In his inaugural issue as editor-in-chief (IJROBP 1997;37:7), Jim stated that the Journal would “seek to serve as the most important vehicle for integrating the three cultures and communicating progress among them.” This vision has been supremely well attained under his guidance.

Dr. Cox, a renowned physician-scientist and teacher, possesses remarkably comprehensive knowledge spanning all clinical disease sites and treatment methods. He brought these strengths to bear in the advancement of the Journal. A prolific and critical author himself, during his editorship, the Journal became the top educational resource for the worldwide radiation oncology community. Toward that goal, a veritable army of exceptionally talented reviewers and associate editors were actively drawn into the huge task of maintaining high relevancy of the articles that were published and improving the quality of the feedback received by prospective authors. Among other innovations, Critical Review, a new feature implemented by Jim, became a “must read; must save” resource.

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Dr. Cox has managed remarkable growth of the Journal during his tenure as the Editor-in-Chief. This was no trivial task as IJROBP publications increased to 15 packed issues annually, reaching a 5-year impact factor of 4.8, a level that is highly credible for a specialty journal such as ours. Still the number of manuscript submissions is increasing rapidly. In 2010, the Journal considered more than 2,000 original manuscripts and will review even more in 2011. Even as Jim’s term as Editor draws to a close, innovative management at the Journal is keeping pace with this increased scholarly activity in our field. New publication guidelines are being implemented that prepare well for the future. Manuscript word limit and the total number of figures as well as the number of references will be restricted although supplementary materials may still be published online. According to Jim, these steps will allow the Journal to publish more manuscripts more efficiently, and will further increase the number of articles per issue in the future.

The Red Journal has only had two editors-in-chief since its origin. It is difficult to believe that the IJROBP is already in its 35th year since its establishment by founding editor Dr. Philip Rubin. Rereading Phil’s first Editor’s Note (IJROBP 1975;1:1/2), he opined that the Journal would be “viable as long as its scientific contribution is meaningful and we steer our own course with precision.” Then, in his memorable “Fare Well and Farewell” final editorial piece (IJROBP 1986;36:5), Phil recognized that the Journal had become established as the premier journal in our field. Those of us who grew up with the Journal—as well as those who cannot remember a time when it did not exist—have benefitted tremendously from its pages. Dr. Rubin must take great pleasure that his wishes for the future success of the Red Journal were so thoroughly achieved and were amplified into a permanent pillar of the profession under Jim Cox’s extraordinary leadership.