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When Dr. A. Harry Bliss stepped down after 40 years of involvement with the publica tion, Dr. William G. Walter, a past president of the National Association of Sanitarians, 1972 winner of the Walter Mangold Award, and 1976 recipient of the Journal Editors' Award, chairman of the Department of Microbiology at Montana State University, accepted the position of "Editorial Director." Walter served in that capacity until June 1984. He received a modest stipend for his services in reading manuscripts, reviewers' comments and making decisions on what to publish. He gave general direction to improve the acceptance of the publication by authors as well as readers. Dr. Walter was instru mental in upgrading the professional presentation of manuscripts and the general appearance of the Journal. He involved the NEHA Executive Committee and a Journal Advisory Board in an annual review of the Journal. Upon Dr. Walter's retirement as Editorial Director, another dedicated member of NEHA, Dr. Trenton G. Davis, Chairman of the Department of Environmental Health at East Carolina University - a recent past president of NEHA - was persuaded to accept the position of Editorial Director. Dr. Davis was reappointed to a second three year term at the 1986 annual meeting. He receives a stipend and is continuing the upgrading begun by Dr. Walter, as well as the annual review of the Journal's usefulness to readers. For the past several years, records show that a hundred or more manuscripts are submitted annually to the Journal for possible publication. Peer review subjects each manuscript to the scrutiny of two experts and the Editorial Director. Most manuscripts are revised and improved by authors as a result of peer review. More than 100 reviewers are acknowledged annually in the conference report issue of the Journal. The Journal is read and used by environmental health directors, field personnel, pro fessors, students, researchers and others in the United States and 60 other countries. It is subscribed to by libraries throughout the world. The Journal is a professional, peer reviewed publication containing major articles by college and university professors and researchers, and by people who work in local, state and federal environmental and health agencies, and in industry. The Journal publishes news of environmental control products and systems. It covers activities of environmental health professional organizations and educational offerings. Regular columns, literature reviews and book reviews are published.
Journal Award
In 1969, the Editors established the A. Harry Bliss Journal Editors' Award to recognize a person who has made outstanding contributions to the editorial content or the peer review process. Those so recognized are listed in the Awards section of this history.
Columns
Regular columns have been published from time to time in The Sanitarian and the Journal ofEnvironmental Health. The longest running column is the International View point written by Seymour Barfield, Long Beach, California. It first appeared in the July/August 1967 issue and is still popular today. An Audio-Visual column by Tom Sexton appeared from March 1968 and for about 16 years thereafter. Dr. F. Oris Blackwell authored a Book Review column for several years. Vince Sikora, J.D., Johnson City, Tennessee was author of the popular "Law for Environmentalists," which began in 1979 and was published through the March/April 1985 issue. All columnists are unpaid. The Journal and its predecessor have truly been products of professional volunteers throughout the 49 years of publication. With the 50th birthday of the Association, the offical publication goes into its 50th year. .. an extension of the professionalization effort.
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