Dr. Bruce Squires witnessed vast changes during tenure as CMAJ editor

In brief

When Squires arrived at CMAJ as co-editor in 1986 -- he assumed sole responsibility midway through 1987 -- the Publications Department was CMAJ and the Canadian Journal of Surgery. Typewriters still clacked throughout the department and our first "portable" computer, a first-generation Compaq that was the size of a large suitcase and weighed more than 25 pounds, was considered the height of electronic sophistication.

As he leaves the post, to be replaced by Dr. John Hoey, the CMA publishes or produces no fewer than 13 publications: CMAJ, CJS, Strategy, CMA News, Clinical and Investigative Medicine, Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, Canadian Journal of Respiratory Therapy, Canada Communicable Disease Report, Informed, Mediscan, Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine, the Newsletter of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada and the Communiqué of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.

"That growth in itself seems like a solid enough accomplishment," commented Stephen Prudhomme, the CMA's director of professional development, "but then consider the role Bruce played in developing the CMA books that are aimed at the public -- it's hard to go in a bookstore now without seeing the CMA name, and Bruce deserves a lot of credit for that."

Squires also played a role in taking the CMA into cyberspace with the 1995 launch of CMA Online. In doing so the CMA became the first national medical association in the world to provide an interactive service through the World Wide Web. Squires' support for that development is not surprising, given his facility with computer software and hardware.

To the other editors at CMAJ, Squires has always been respected for his strong principles and refusal to shy away from controversy. During his term the journal has been threatened with several lawsuits -- none was pursued -- and experienced several media feeding frenzies. Through it all, Bruce Squires remained unruffled.

His editorial expertise is well recognized outside CMA House, too. He served as a member of the influential International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (the Vancouver Group), which has helped promote international standards for journal publishing. "The international recognition CMAJ received because of Bruce will be one of his greatest legacies," says Prudhomme.

Dr. Stuart MacLeod, the former dean of medicine at McMaster University and current chair of the CMA Publications Committee, says Squires will be best remembered for "providing outstanding leadership to CMAJ and our other publications during a period of unprecedented change.

"Bruce has helped to maintain CMAJ's enviable citation record among general medical journals through astute steering of the journal toward practice-relevant research publications and a contemporary emphasis on population-health issues. He has nurtured a strong relationship with the journal's authors and editorial staff and has been uncompromising in his pursuit of quality.

"Overall, he has raised the standard of medical and scientific publishing in Canada and has given us an important international voice through his participation in the Vancouver Group."

His high standards were appreciated by Canadian researchers. "Bruce Squires has done a terrific job as editor-in-chief of the CMAJ," said clinical epidemiologist Dr. David Naylor, chief executive officer at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto. "He has a wonderful eye for the strengths and weaknesses of research, edits with neurosurgical precision and has never shied away from controversial topics or allowed CMAJ's editorial independence to be compromised. Bruce's own prose style is felicitous, and enlivened by a quirky sense of humour. I shall miss him personally, and I know that many of my colleagues feel the same way."

Dr. Brian Goldman, a Toronto emergency physician and pain specialist, has a different perspective on Squires' work because of his own full-time work as a medical journalist: he is a reporter and producer with CBC's The Health Show. "Bruce is a very kind man, but don't let yourself be fooled by that gentle exterior -- beneath it is a man with a passion for finding the truth. As a journalist I really appreciated that because I consider him a fearless editor who was willing to pursue the truth no matter what pressure was brought to bear by interest groups."

Goldman also noted that CMAJ is the only Canadian medical publication that is consistently cited in the lay media, and believes much of the credit for that belongs to Squires.

Dr. Douglas Waugh, a former dean of medicine at Queen's University who has known Squires for 30 years, scoffed at the suggestion Squires is retiring. "Here in Ottawa no one ever retires," he laughed. "They just become consultants. Now Bruce can relax among the rest of us consultants."

Waugh argued that Squires will continue to be a force to reckon with in medical editing. "This is one editor who is not going to ride off into oblivion."

Dr. Jack Armstrong, the Winnipeg pediatrician who served as president of the CMA in 1995-96, said he developed "a marked respect" for the skills demanded of the editor of CMAJ during his tenure. "The position calls for an almost impossible task of attaining the right balance between scientific and political representation within the journal's pages. Bruce Squires has done a superb job in maintaining a correct balance."

Armstrong also noted that CMAJ editors face a difficult job because of competition from journals in the US and United Kingdom, but "we can be proud of the product that has been nurtured under Bruce Squires' leadership. On behalf of the board, I say thanks for a job well done."