Posted by Jef Akst at TheScientist.com
In his new role, Manku, a member of the editorial board since 2004, vows to maintain the journal's unusual aim of distributing novel, radical ideas in medicine and related biomedical sciences while employing a more traditional peer review process than the journal saw under its previous editor,Bruce Charlton,whose contract was terminated after he refused to implement such a system.
"First, we will retain the ethos, heritage and unique characteristics of the journal as they were proposed at inception," Manku said in a statement. "Second, we will engage a medically qualified editorial board to get members more involved in the review system to help ensure radical new ideas and speculations in medicine are given open-minded consideration while ensuring scientific merit."
He may have a long road ahead of him -- last month, editorial board member William Bainsspoke withThe Scientistand said most of the board planned to resign in response to Elsevier's changes to the journal, which found itself in hot water after Charlton chose to publish an article by notorious AIDS denialist Peter Duesburg of the University of California, Berkeley. Duesburg was subsequently the subject of a university investigation launched last November to determine whether he had violated the university's code of conduct by submitting the article toMedical Hypotheses, but was cleared of the charges earlier this week.
Manku is executive editor and editor-in-chief of a leading journal in the lipid field,Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, and part-time chief scientist at Amarin Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular disease.
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RELATED STORY
Elsevier Announces New Medical Hypotheses Editor-in-Chief
OXFORD, England, June 24, 2010
- Dr. Mehar Manku Assumes Leadership of Unique Journal, Vowing to Embrace the Journal's Original Ethos While Implementing a Different Approach to the Peer Review Process
Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com) announced today that Dr. Mehar Manku has accepted the position of Editor-in-Chief of the journal Medical Hypotheses. In this role Dr. Manku will lead a popular, unique journal that constitutes a bridge between cutting-edge theory and the mainstream of medical and scientific communication. Dr. Manku provided invaluable editorial help to Dr. David Horrobin, the journal's founder and first Editor-in-Chief, during a period of illness, before becoming a member of the Editorial Board in 2004.
Dr. Manku stated upon his appointment, "Elsevier and I make two commitments to ensure the long term success of this journal. First, we will retain the ethos, heritage and unique characteristics of the journal as they were proposed at inception. Second, we will engage a medically qualified editorial board to get members more involved in the review system to help ensure radical new ideas and speculations in medicine are given open-minded consideration while ensuring scientific merit."
Medical Hypotheses is a forum for ideas in medicine and related biomedical sciences. It will publish interesting and important theoretical papers that foster the diversity and debate upon which the scientific process thrives. In the words of Dr. David Horrobin in Volume 1, Issue 1, "Medical Hypotheses will publish papers which describe theories, ideas which have a great deal of observational support and some hypotheses where experimental support is yet fragmentary".[1]
Dr. Manku is responsible for implementing a new form of peer review that is unique to Medical Hypotheses submissions. Medical Hypotheses aims to give open-minded consideration to novel, radical new ideas and speculations in medicine which would probably be rejected by most conventional journals. Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editor and external reviewers to ensure their scientific merit. All reviewers will be fully aware of the Aims and Scope of the journal and will be judging the premise, originality and plausibility of the hypotheses submitted.
Dr. Manku has been in biomedical sciences for 35 years, developing medicines based on fatty acids and lipids. He also spent the last 26 years as Executive Editor and Editor-in-Chief (since 2003) of one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in the lipid field: "Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids." Dr. Manku is a part time Chief Scientist at Amarin Corporation, a member of the American Oil Chemists Society and The International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (http://www.issfal.org.uk/).
The journal also plans to implement an online comment section encouraging active participation and debate on the journal's contents.
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