The first European journal on cardiac electrophysiology and pacing, the European Journal of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology

Abstract

This historical piece has been prompted by the 20th anniversary of the first issue of the first European journal in our field. The issue itself has been made available on-line. A brief review of the circumstances surrounding the origin of the European Journal of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology, its failure to achieve Index Medicus recognition and its rebirth, as Europace, is given by the founding editor of both journals. An opportunity has been seized to point out the interest, even today, of at least two of the papers in this first issue. The European Journal of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology (EJCPE) had its origins and its publisher in Germany. In the late summer of 1990, I was invited by the publisher, Herr Brenger, to be the Editor of a new journal that he wished to start. He was already successful as publisher of a German language journal in the field. He told me that I had been recommended to him by a group of German electrophysiologists. I never learnt who they were. I considered this a great opportunity as I felt that Europe lacked a journal in our field. The journal, Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology (PACE), was already well established and the Journal of Cardiovascular …