Allan Pacey: Thank you from Human Fertility and the BFS

2024 sees a new dawn in the history of the journal of the British Fertility Society as it moves to Open Access format, with the exciting opportunity for increased readership and influence which that brings (Maheshwari & Potdar, 2023). In the 25 years since the publication of its first edition, Human Fertility has been steered in its path by only two editors (Pacey & Leese, 2022). At the outset, the inspirational leadership of Professor Henry Leese realized the vision of producing a journal which reflected in a unique way the broad interests of the Society’s membership of clinicians, scientists, nurses, and counsellors. Our second editor, Allan Pacey, demitted office in this last year after eight years in post, and it is only appropriate to mark in print the enormous gratitude which the Society expresses for his very significant contribution to the history of both the Journal and more broadly the Society as a whole.

Allan has long been a major contributor to the Society’s work and served with distinction as Chair between 2012 and 2014. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Society in 2022.

A graduate of St. Andrews University, his academic career was spent for the most part in Sheffield and included appointments as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and ultimately Professor of Andrology. His talent in senior university administrative roles more recently led to his appointment as Deputy Vice-President and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health in the University of Manchester. An international reputation in research in Andrology, allied to his consummate communication skills, have made him an important influencer in the UK and beyond, and has been extraordinarily useful to the Society in articulating moderate and considered responses to the many and often controversial issues within reproductive biology of the day. In 2016 Allan received an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen for services to Reproductive Medicine.

The role of Editor-in-Chief necessitates an enormous amount of time and energy, and it is a tribute to Allan’s absolute dedication to the job that, despite so many other calls on his time, the journal has flourished under his leadership, a period when Human Fertility moved wholly to on-line access. The volume of work required of the Editor-in-Chief was made clear in Allan’s final editorial (Pacey, 2022) when he referred to the 2200 submissions which he had read, and the 500 manuscripts accepted for publication during his tenure. These figures were indicative of the growth in popularity and influence which the journal attracted under his guidance and led in 2021 to an expansion in publication schedule from four to five volumes per year, including 200 pages per issue. The journal’s wide appeal has been maintained through its breadth of content, which includes policy and practice position papers on clinical and laboratory practice, primary research reflecting the Society’s several constituencies, and commissioned articles. A 25% acceptance rate demonstrates, however, that the quality of the product has remained a priority. Supported by a loyal multidisciplinary international Editorial Board, many Human Fertility metrics have improved under Allan’s watch. Maintenance of our impact factor, increases in download numbers/citations across a broad geographical spread, and an improved turnaround rate, are testament to his robust, fair, and dedicated editorial approach. The continued commitment to swift and responsive editorial decision making means we can look forward with confidence to Human Fertility remaining a constant and important contributor to the science and practice of reproductive medicine worldwide.

Such optimism in approaching the next chapter of Human Fertility’s story is in no small way thanks to the unstinting and selfless work of Professor Pacey over the last eight years. The British Fertility Society is delighted to formally acknowledge its deep indebtedness and gratitude to him, and, as he becomes Editor Emeritus within the Editorial Board, expresses its wish for his continued success, good health, and happiness, and perhaps a little more time for personal indulgence, as he moves to future endeavour in this most fascinating of specialties. Thank you once again Allan.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.