Physiological and pathophysiological significance of C-peptide actions. Introduction.

Abstract

WITH this issue of Circulation a new editor has assumed responsibility for the journal. A subtitle to this foreword could have been: "Can a Traditional Type of Specialty Journal Survive or Flourish in the Present Era?" My answer is "Yes," despite the competition for the readers' attention by profuse color illustrations, professional types of reviews and abstracting services. Not only does the output of the increased numbers of investigators demand and deserve a medium for expression and for permanent record, but the printed or typed page still is the "final common pathway" to exact knowledge and to enlightened discussion. In this decade computers have brought more written communications to be scanned or perused, but the challenge is to adapt them to identify the novel idea or the unique experiment and to decrease the reading (homework) of the teacher, investigator and executive. In this age of profusion of investigation and of "information overload," an editor's responsibilities may be divided into duty to the reader, duty to the writer, duty to the computer, duty to the community or public and, finally, duty to the publisher. The reader is entitled to clarity of exposition, availability of data, germane discussion and, if he is to be attracted to read or later to find the communication, a title that is apt, with the proper key words for indexing. The author and editor may be tempted to capture the attention of readers by "catchy" or "cute"