Down Memory Lane: 25 Years of Publication

Abstract

GEORGE KURIAN* In the Autumn of 1970, The Journal of Comparative Family Studies, published its first issue. However, a lot of preparatory work had preceded this first edition before this could become a reality. I have been teaching Sociology of the Family at the University of Calgary since 1966. In those days, the only Journal which had significant interest in Family Studies was The Journal of Marriage and the Family. Their primary emphasis has always been on the American family. However, The Journal of Marriage and the Family had a special international section, under a separate editorial board, in which they published about five articles per issue. This section has been discontinued in recent years. In view of the increasing impact of international migration, especially non-European immigration to North America, Australia and New Zealand as well as a number of countries in Europe, I felt there was need for a study of the family from a cross-cultural perspective. Therefore, I decided to correspond with scholars all over the world. I contacted about three hundred and nearly half of them responded. Most of them were very enthusiastic, a few were lukewarm about the idea of a journal specializing in cross-cultural studies and some of these were well-known family Sociologists. In 1968 received strong encouragement to go ahead with the idea of publishing The Journal of Comparative Family Studies, from Professor Carle C. Zimmerman. He had retired from Harvard University and was in Calgary as a visiting Professor. As a first step, I invited over thirty well established scholars representing universities in North America, Europe and other regions in both Sociology as well as Anthropology to submit articles. A brochure with the titles of articles by eight well known scholars was mailed to a number of universities throughout the world. The response was overwhelming and most encouraging with pre-paid subscriptions. I then set about to get scholars of established reputation, who represent some of the most respected academic institutions in the world, to accept positions on the editorial board. These members are of great assistance in our review process and often suggest people to review manuscripts. To this day we work hard to find qualified reviewers for articles which deal with various cultures representing different countries. Some eminent scholars from our editorial board have retired. These include Robert Bell, Ramiro G. Cardona, Robin Fox, Jack R. Goody, S. Groenman, K. Ishwaran, H. Jacobson, Wm. Kephart, Robert M. Marsh, J. Robb, A. C. Heinrich, Nancy E. Williamson, John Kosa, Henk Heeren. Regretfully other previous members of the board including Maurice Freedman, Chandra Jayawardena, Steven Polgar, Carle C. Zimmerman, John Blacking, Lucy Jen Huang and U. R. Ehrenfels are now deceased. They have made a great contribution in helping us maintain the quality of the Journal. Their encouragement and support will be remembered. With the help of the Communication Media at the University of Calgary, a cover design was created by Adrian Van Vliet which was original and attractive, representing the family throughout the world. This design continues to this day unchanged as a permanent recognizable logo of the Journal. In the early years from 1970 - 1975 we published two issues which we then expanded into three. With the increasing attention and activity by scholars from all over the world regarding the study of the family from a cross-cultural point of view and to accommodate the number of excellent articles, in 1980 and 1981 we published four issues. The Journal having an international readership, made it difficult to get four issues out to all subscribers on time and therefore, we have continued with three issues per year from 1982. At the very start we felt there were many excellent books being published concerning the family which should be brought to the attention of our readers and a section of our Journal was devoted to book reviews plus research notes and review articles. …