Journal of Endocrinology

The Journal of Endocrinology was conceived by Sir Charles Dodds Bart FRS (the founding editor-in-chief), Sir Frank Young FRS, Sir Alan Parkes FRS and Lord Solly Zuckerman OM KCB FRS in 1937. The first issue was published in 1939 (it took two years to process the papers from draft manuscript to print) and contained 45 research articles. By 1946, five issues of the Journal of Endocrinology had been published.[2]

In February 1946, 22 previous contributors unanimously resolved to form the Society for Endocrinology and invited all previous authors to be founding members. Journal of Endocrinology editorial board member Alan Parkes was elected as the Society’s first Chairman.[2]

From 1946, the number of issues that the journal published gradually increased. From 1953 to 1960 there were between five and seven issues published each year, and from 1961 to 1965 there were eight to nine issues. Since 1966, Journal of Endocrinology has been published monthly.[3] The technological explosion of the 1970s and 1980s, exemplified by the development of recombinant DNA techniques, DNA sequencing and the invention of PCR, resulted in an increase in research output in the areas of molecular and genetic endocrinology. In response to this, in 1988 a sister journal of the Journal of Endocrinology was founded, entitled Journal of Molecular Endocrinology.[4]

In 2006, the Journal of Endocrinology was adopted as an official journal of the European Society of Endocrinology and, in 2014, of the Endocrine Society of Australia. [5][6]

The regular use of molecular biology methods in work published in Journal of Endocrinology, as well as its molecular-focused sister journal, often resulted in a blurred line between the subject areas covered. Consequently, in 2011 it was decided by the Publications Committee of the Society for Endocrinology that the two journals would have a single joint editorial board. This came into being at the start of 2012. While papers would still be submitted to one or other of the journals, the senior editors would have the opportunity to suggest that manuscripts be transferred between publications.[4]

Recent past editors-in-chief:

• 1975-1980: Bernard Donovan
• 1981-1984: Alf Cowie
• 1985-1992: Gavin Vinson
• 1993-1999: Alan McNeilly
• 2000-2004: Steve Hillier
• 2005-2008: Julian Davis
• 2009-2015: Adrian Clark
• 2015–present: Sofianos Andrikopoulos
• 2018-present: Colin Farquharson

The Journal of Endocrinology was first published online in September 1997 in PDF format. From October 2004, the online offering was extended to include the HTML full text version of articles. All peer-reviewed editorial and review content is free to access from publication. Research articles are under access control for the first 12 months before being made available to the public. During the first 12 months the content is accessible for those at subscribing institutions and members of the Society for Endocrinology and the European Society of Endocrinology.

The journal automatically deposits articles in PubMed Central on behalf of authors who are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for release 12 months from publication, enabling authors to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. Journal of Endocrinology is a hybrid open access journal, offering a ‘gold’ open access option whereby authors can pay an article processing charge upon acceptance to have their article made freely available online immediately upon publication. These articles are automatically deposited into PubMed Central.

All journal content is included in the World Health Organization’s HINARI scheme, which offers free or reduced-price access for institutions in certain developing countries to health-related research.

The full archive of published content from 1939 to 1997 is available to purchase by institutions as part of the Society for Endocrinology Archive.

The journal is abstracted and indexed in:

According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2016 impact factor of 4.706.[7]

• Official website
• Endocrine Society of Australia
• European Society of Endocrinology
• Society for Endocrinology