Most of CMAJ editorial board resigns

Fifteen of the 19 members of the editorial board of the CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), resigned last week over the firings of senior editors. Another editor has also resigned from the journal.

That left the newly appointed acting editor in chief, Noni MacDonald, the editor emeritus, Bruce Squires, and three part time associate editors (of the original nine) trying to keep Canada's premier medical journal afloat. Scientific papers were said to be piling up at the rate of 25 to 30 a week.

Dr MacDonald announced the resignations in a press release, saying that some previous members of the board had indicated their willingness to serve and that she will announce the creation of a new interim board soon. At the same time she explained in a letter posted on the journal's website (http://www.cmaj.ca/) “why we agreed to step into the breach,” and similarly the remaining three associate editors explained “why we are staying on.”

In her letter Dr MacDonald wrote: “The crux of this interim period is the formation of a governance review …