New members of BMJ editorial board

As an experiment the BMJ started an editorial board in 1996.1 The board has now met four times, and we have no doubt that it's a success. We described at the beginning what we wanted from a board: “The main purpose for developing a board is to help us to prepare the journal for the next century. The members will ensure a steady flow of new ideas from a wide range of specialties, countries, and disciplines. We look to the editorial board as well for frank criticism of the BMJ and advice on how it can develop in both the short and the long term. Our board members are increasing our range of contacts, helping us find new writers and reviewers, writing and reviewing for us themselves, and representing us in their countries and disciplines.”

The board has helped us with all these aims, and we are enormously grateful to those who have served. We never cease to be mildly amazed that people will travel thousands of miles to attend the board and give of their time so generously.

The board clearly needs to turn over, and the main point of this piece is to describe new members. We also list at the end those who have left One innovation is that we now have two consumer representatives. Our existing representative told us that two were needed to make sure that …