Editorial

In the spring of 1990, Clifford Scott phoned me to arrange a meeting regarding “a very important subject.” I thought it was likely some organizational question of the Society or the Institute. When we met, Scott proposed that I organize and become the editor of a psychoanalytic journal for the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society. Several years before, a similar decision had been undertaken by the Society, but that publication (mimeographed) did not survive the first issue. A small committee chaired by Clifford Scott and Paul Lefebvre had been meeting for several days discussing the launching of the journal.

At the following annual general meeting, the Society approved Scott's proposal to launch the Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis / Revue canadienne de psychanalyse. With some reluctance, considering the magnitude of the task, I agreed to serve as editor, specifying the traditional tenyear term, nomination of the Editorial Board, and control and responsibility for the scientific content of the journal. I had already been, for five years, a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and, at the time, I was also on the Board of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly.

I was pleased to have Charles Hanly and Noël Montgrain as associate editors, while Donald Carveth agreed to serve as assistant editor.

Much of the first year was taken up in finding a publisher and establishing the Editorial Board. Given our limited budget, locating a publisher became a daunting task. Finally, a small family-operated publishing house accepted our offer.

The next step was to set up the Editorial Board and, no less important, to decide on the format and the aesthetics of the journal. K. I. Arvanitakis and I chose the motto, the Socratic “Know thyself,” as well as deciding on the general appearance of the journal. For the Editorial Board members, I aimed at some balance between the Branches and the two languages, as well as writing experience. Two book editors, in French and