JAMA editor-in-chief to leave in 2011

The first female editor-in-chief of The Journal of the American Medical Association said in September that she will step down from her position in June 2011 to start a new center for medical professionalism at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland.

In January 2000, Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPH, came to JAMA from Johns Hopkins, where she was vice dean for academic affairs and professor of pediatrics. From 2000 to 2009, JAMA's impact factor -- a measure of a journal's influence as determined by the average number of citations -- nearly tripled to 28.9.

Dr. DeAngelis led efforts among medical journal editors to strengthen conflict-of-interest guidelines and toughen outside review of drugmaker-funded studies.

"The thing I'm most proud of is that JAMA is widely known for its integrity," said Dr. DeAngelis, 70. "We do our darnedest to make sure that what people read in JAMA is the truth."

In 2005, JAMA adopted a policy requiring independent analysis of industry-sponsored trial data by an academic statistician before publishing results. JAMA and the Archives journals published by the American Medical Association are the only major journals to have adopted such a requirement.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors is considering whether to incorporate such a standard in its uniform requirements. The ICMJE is composed of 12 of the leading journals, including JAMA, The New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine and The Lancet. Hundreds of journals already follow the committee's uniform requirements for manuscripts that lay out conventions on authorship credits, peer review and how to report research results.

Michael D. Maves, MD, MBA, executive vice president and CEO of the American Medical Association, hailed Dr. DeAngelis' work as the 15th editor in JAMA's history.

"The primary thing she's done is re-establish the prominence of the JAMA/Archives family of journals and really establish JAMA and the Archives as extremely ethical, responsible [platforms] for scientific investigators to get their research published," Dr. Maves said. "We really do regard JAMA as the jewel of the AMA, and we've really been fortunate to have Dr. DeAngelis as editor-in-chief."

The search for a new editor is under way, the AMA said.