Twenty-five years ago.

Abstract

The first issue of Injury Prevention appeared in March 1995. Its birth followed a tough gestation, but with the support of Alex Williamson and the blessings of Richard Smith, the BMJ Publishing group brought it to life. With much pride, we now celebrate the Journal’s 25th anniversary. The decision to proceed was made in 1994. The following year was a mixture of nightmares, excitement and much hard work. We needed to assemble an editorial board. I was determined to recruit every ‘big name’ I could think of and I was determined that it would have international representation. No one we invited declined. This acceptance persisted through the many changes in board membership that followed. Although my initial list of potential subscribers was wildly off target as were my financial projections, with strong support we were able to launch the following year. An editorial in the first issue, ‘Giving Birth and Thanks’, summarised how it came about. Other details are described by the contributors to this editorial. It only remains for me to look back at how the field of injury prevention appeared a quarter of a century ago. I do so with the help of a lovingly preserved copy of the first issue as shown above, with the two other covers that followed years later. In that issue, another editorial ‘Logo and Logic’ described one of my several injuries. I was hit by a car in London when I looked the wrong way. This prompted me to thank many people—notably Sue Heels and my wife, Ann Arnold. I noted the gamble authors took when they decided to submit papers to this new, untested journal. The list of lead authors in that issue included Eleni Petridou, Polly Bijur, Ian Roberts, Robyn Norton, Cheryl Alexander, Guy Grimard, Terry Nolan, Karen Zwi, Samuel …