BMS Archive
Publication of Society Proceedings
As can be seen in the Meetings Database the Abstracts of Society meetings have been published in several different journals, which suggests that publication of the abstracts has not always been straightforward.
Biorheology
Once the Society was established, its Abstracts were published in Biorheology, which worked well for nearly 12 years. However, towards the end of this period, delays in publication were becoming serious. Concerns had been expressed at the AGM as early as 1974 and alternative possibilities were explored.
The matter was sealed in 1978 when one of the editors of Biorheology informed the Society that the journal was no longer prepared to continue publishing non-rheological papers. The reason given was that some of their readers were critical of the publication of BMS abstracts, which seldom focused on rheology of the circulation.
Microvascular Research
This naturally created disquiet in some members of the Committee but others were relieved, as they were unhappy with the relationship. Prior contacts had been made with Microvascular Research (MVR), which was much more relevant to members’ interests, and a rapid and smooth switchover was made.
Matters calmed down for a while but only seven years later, the editor of MVR wrote saying that he too was no longer prepared to accept our manuscripts. This time, the reason was that the expansion in numbers of abstracts was creating pressure on full papers, as the publishers were unwilling to expand the size of the journal. This was a real blow, particularly as the Society was only informed of this after its Oxford 1984 Abstracts had been submitted for publication.
International Journal of Microcirculation
However, yet again, increasing delays in publication had been causing concern and some expressed the view that it was difficult to get clinical papers accepted by MVR. So once more we changed publishers to the new European journal, the International Journal of Microcirculation; Clinical and Experimental (IJMCE) which had been established two years previously. Although its Editors were initially reluctant to accept Abstracts from an increasing number of microcirculation societies, after further discussion they not only agreed to accept our future meeting Abstracts but also to accept those from the Oxford meeting. Those who joined science recently may be puzzled as to why our Abstracts in the IJMCE vary so much in type face and size. The reason is that, in order to save costs, Abstracts had to be submitted on a special ‘camera-ready’ form so they could be photographed and printed without the need for expensive type-setting. Nowadays electronic submission saves both costs and improves visual impact.
This marriage lasted longer, but it too soured when the IJMCE began to get into financial difficulty. Karger had taken over from Martinus Nijhoff as Publisher in1994, and in 1996 proposed an annual charge of around £1000 for publication of BMS Abstracts.
Several alternatives were discussed at the BMS AGM that year. The general view favoured maintaining the link with IJMCE, as it remained the official journal of the European Society for Microcirculation. However, it was felt more appropriate that the charge by Karger should be met by increasing the Society’s annual membership fee by £5, rather than draining its central funds.
Journal of Vascular Research and Microcirculation
This accommodation did not last long, as the European Society itself severed links with theIJMCE because of its own dissatisfaction with the publisher. As the latter held the copyright for the name, both the British and European Societies moved to publishing their Abstracts in theJournal of Vascular Research. This relationship also proved unsatisfactory for the BMS as the Journal charged a substantial sum for each Abstract, while the journal Microcirculation was prepared to do so free as well as having a larger specialist readership. Accordingly, abstracts have been published there since 2004. We hope this marriage lasts!
