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SPECIAL TOPICS |
,1
* Executive Director, American Society of Animal Science, and
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Animal Science
In 2008, the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) celebrates its centennial. Similarly, the Journal of Animal Science (JAS) reaches the 100-year milestone in 2010. Over the last century, ASAS and JAS have evolved into leading authorities within the field of animal science specifically and, more broadly, within science as a whole.
During the ASAS centennial year, the society is embarking on a number of programs designed to highlight the past and launch the future, including the presentation of 40 papers at the American Dairy Science Association-ASAS Joint Annual Meeting in Indianapolis that are designed to highlight the history and the future of ASAS within all of animal science and related disciplines. Recognizing the importance of documenting our past and future visions, these presentations will be accompanied by a series of papers published in a new subsection of JAS entitled Perspectives. Although the intent of the Perspectives section is not to document history, we felt there was no more appropriate place than this section to publish our members’ perspectives on the past and future of the animal sciences and ASAS. Therefore, beginning with the July edition of JAS and continuing through December 2008, these centennial papers emphasizing historical retrospectives and future outlooks presented at the 2008 American Dairy Science Association-ASAS Joint Annual Meeting will be published in the new Perspectives subsection.
Beginning in January of 2009, Perspectives will appear regularly in the Special Topics division of JAS, with the main intent to put a particular, current topic into perspective (i.e., to put it into context in terms of its relationship and importance to an entire area); this, of course, could include some history of the area. We hope to pattern Perspectives after a similar section of Science magazine (e.g., see http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl#perspective), in which authors analyze recent research developments but do not primarily discuss the author’s own work.
The ASAS had its beginning on July 28, 1908, at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. A group of animal nutritionists, representing 13 state agricultural experiment stations and the USDA, met during a summer school session and formed a permanent organization involved in animal nutrition research. On November 26, 1908, the group met with other interested persons and formed an organization called the American Society of Animal Nutrition. Thirty-three charter members represented 17 state experiment stations, the USDA, and Canada. A constitution was adopted, and 4 committees were established: (1) experiments, (2) terminology, (3) methods of reporting results, and (4) affiliation. The objectives of the new society were (1) to improve the quality of investigation in animal nutrition, (2) to promote more systematic and better correlated study of feeding problems, and (3) to facilitate personal interaction among investigators in this field. At the business meeting in 1912, efforts were made to broaden the membership base. On November 30, 1915, the name of the society was changed from the American Society of Animal Nutrition to the American Society of Animal Production, and an amendment to the constitution was passed to allow members to include those interested in teaching, breeding, and management investigations, as well as nutritionists. A committee on instruction was added. At that time there were 114 members. Growth in membership was almost continuous; by the golden anniversary year of 1958 there were 1,829 members. The second name change was approved at the 53rd annual business meeting in Chicago on November 24, 1961, when the official name became the American Society of Animal Science.
Each year through 1940, the secretary of the society prepared proceedings after the annual meeting. These proceedings, along with papers prepared by members, were published as the Proceedings of the American Society of Animal Production. In 1940, on the recommendation of an editorial committee, publication of a quarterly journal was approved by the executive committee. Publication of the JAS began in 1942. Beginning in 1967, JAS was published every 2 mo. Since 1969, it has been published monthly. An electronic version of the journal became available on the World Wide Web in October 1995, and electronic access for libraries and institutions was initiated in January 2000.
Today ASAS has nearly 5,000 members worldwide, representing numerous disciplines within science and animal husbandry. Our vision has continued to expand to become more and more inclusive of different disciplines and all animals within a managed setting. There is no place where our member’s contributions are highlighted more prominently than within JAS. The JAS currently publishes more than 400 papers and approximately 3,500 pages a year across numerous disciplines and is recognized worldwide as the leading journal in the field of animal science. The new Perspectives section being launched in July will only serve to enhance our journal and expand our base readership. Please take the time over the next 6 mo to read the centennial papers that are being published in this section and consider suggestions for future contributions to the Perspectives in 2009 and beyond (suggested topics can be submitted to the division editor for Special Topics or to the editor-in-chief).
1 Corresponding author: Larry.Reynolds{at}ndsu.edu
Received for publication April 29, 2008. Accepted for publication April 29, 2008.
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