EDITORIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
On several occasions over the past seventeen years we have announced changes to the editorial structure of Statistics in Medicine. These 'Editorial Announcements' have usually reported changes to the Editorial Board as membership has been expanded or rotated to deal with the ever increasing numbers of submitted papers, or to mirror the demands for expert opinion within specific areas of medical statistics, epidemiology, and their allied sciences. Less frequently they have announced expansion of the masthead with appointments of Deputy Editors, Book Review Editors, and Editors for specific Series. On just two occasions have the 'Editorial Announcements' recorded change to the main Editors of the Journal. The first was the appointment of a new editor, David Machin, in 1988 (Volume 7, p. 913), which coincided with the move of Laurence Freedman from the U.K. to the U.S.A.
The second was the retirement of Laurence himself at the end of 1993, an event which the Editors described as marking the close of 'an important era for the Journal' (Volume 13, pp. 1-2). An opportunity was taken then to narrate the origins and early history of the Journal, and the key role which Laurence Freedman had played in both. Now with much regret and some sadness, but coupled with enormous appreciation of his achievements, we announce the retirement of Theodore (Ted) Colton as an Editor of Statistics in Medicine. It is extremely difficult to find words which adequately portray the immense contribution that Ted has made to the success of the Journal: his vision, his dedication, his geniality, and above all else, his directness and courteous manner in dealing so simply and elegantly with so many. Our tribute, similar in style to that for Laurence Freedman, and however inadequate, will recall some brief early history as well as the colossal role that Ted Colton has played.
From the outset in July 1979 it was appreciated that the appointment of an Editor in the United States was the most critical decision faced in setting up Statistics in Medicine. Not only was it an appointment which, by itself, and independently of the reputations of the publisher and others associated with the Journal, would determine its success or failure, the U.S. Editorship was also by far the most onerous and daunting job in running the Journal. Over the first nine months of 1980 the publisher sought advice extensively in the U.S.A. and elsewhere from leading biostatisticians and epidemiologists, a prolonged and anxious period, which was terminated only when Laurence Freedman and Tony Johnson received from Ted Colton the letter dated 20 October 1980 stating simply 'I am delighted to accept your invitation and serve as your joint editor in the U.S.A.' The only concern at that time was the proposed title, which by coincidence was identical with that of his book (Little, Brown and Co., 1974). As others have found, there are limited ways in which to combine 'statistics' and 'medicine' in the title of either a book or journal, since the addition of qualifying phrases serves only to embellish rather than enhance. Raymond Pearl in 1923 had chosen 'medical biometry and statistics ', both Woods and Russell (in 1930), and Bradford Hill (in 1937) had used 'medical statistics', Armitage (in 1971) had used 'Statistical Methods in Medical Research' (itself to be duplicated in a journal title twenty-one years later). In addition we were anxious to avoid a title which became buried in an interminable list of 'Journal of ' or 'International Journal of ': the latter particularly because it implied a value judgement which we preferred should be determined by both the content and readership. In the end, encouraged by David Finney, simplicity prevailed, and the title of Ted's book was adopted for the Journal.