Fifty years of the Journal

Abstract

The founding editor of the Journal of the College of General Practitioners was RMS ‘Mac’ McConaghey, and the first issue of this title, separate from the College's Research Newsletter , appeared in February 1960. In September 1953 Robin Pinsent had launched the Research Newsletter , where the first paragraph read: > ‘The White Paper on Clinical Research in relation to the National Health Service’ is a milestone in the history of man's inquiry into sickness and disease; for the definition of research laid down by the joint committee expressly includes field studies in epidemiology and in social medicine, and observations in general practice. It is clearly implied that research in the field of medicine seen by the general practitioner is potentially as valuable as that carried out in a hospital ward or a university department. This is a challenge to those in general practice, who see the beginnings of disease, to make a fuller contribution to its study by investigating more fully the problems they handle.’1 This far-sighted statement of the need for a research evidence base for general practice and primary care set the tone for the early observational studies of disease in the community by Fry, Watson, and others, whose landmark papers continue to guide practice and to inform prognosis. With McConaghey still at the helm, the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners appeared in 1967 and his 1969 editorial ‘Why a College Journal? ’ still bears re-examination.2 As part of a strong editorial board Denis Pereira Gray became deputy editor and took the editorial chair in 1972. His massive contribution to the development of the Journal — including strengthening its original research content, looking critically at postgraduate education and clinical practice and negotiating new publishing arrangements — are summarised in a leader by his …