Green into silver

Abstract

It should not have escaped your notice that the ‘Green Journal’, as the BJCP is known affectionately to its friends, has changed its colours. The temporary conversion to silver celebrates the 25th anniversary of its foundation—a time for celebration and reflection. In his editorial for the inaugural issue of February 1974, our first chairman, Graham Wilson, noted that the origins of the Journal were linked closely to the creation of the Clinical Pharmacology Section of the British Pharmacological Society in 1970. Since its inception, the Journal has provided a flagship for promoting and encouraging the development of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, steered in succession by many distinguished helmsmen on a course plotted by a series of redoubtable captains. Of these, Graham Wilson and Paul Turner sadly are no longer with us. Other officers, such as Sir Colin Dollery and Sir Charles George, have now moved up to the rank of admiral with different responsibilities. However, they continue to maintain a lookout for the Journal, and we are pleased to mark the anniversary year with contributions from them expressing their thoughts on past, current and, most importantly, future developments as we sail into the Millennium. Although the builders of the Journal were British clinical pharmacologists, the editorial crew is now totally international, reflecting the global sources of our copy and readership. It would be wrong to give the impression that the evolutionary journey of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics has been plain sailing, particularly over the past few years when the winds of change in the biological and clinical sciences have been blowing hard. However, we believe that the specialty and the Journal is now critically poised to take advantage of fresh new winds. As assessment of the products of the molecular revolution moves into studies in intact humans there will be renewed need for the skills of the clinical pharmacologist not only to provide the ‘reality check’ on the large number of failures, but to progress the exciting successes through to the clinic. We offer a toast to the BJCP and all who sail in her!