The board of directors of the International Association for CFS/ME have signed a contract with academic publisher Routledge/Taylor and Frances to launch a new subscription-based peer review journal called Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health and Behaviour. The first edition of this quarterly journal is expected to be published in January next year.
There will be no publication fees levied on authors.
In a statement issued on 2 June 2012, IACFS/ME director Fred Friedberg – a psychologist working as research associate professor at Stony Brook University, New York – commented:
Unfortunately, a CFS/ME-dedicated journal is no longer a viable enterprise. The Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (JCFS) folded in 2008 in part because it attracted only 400 subscribers worldwide and was never indexed on Medline. (If permitted by the past publisher, electronic copies of JCFS will be made available on the IACFS/ME website.) Our new journal is intended to succeed based on its broad multidisciplinary focus, eventual Medline listing, and its backing by a major academic publisher.
This new journal contract is the result of four years of proposals, conferences, and negotiations with a number of academic publishers. Gudrun Lange, PhD, a former board member and editor of the IACFS/ME Bulletin, played an important role in bringing about this new journal. The entire board of directors is to be commended for facilitating this new endeavor.
To read Dr Friedberg's full statement, please click HERE.