How Herb Tabor`s vision for timely and accessible research led scientific publishing into the online age [Methods and Resources] (Journal of Biological Chemistry)

There was a time not that long ago when scientific communication happened only in print, with research papers, letters to the editor, and all other exchanges just appearing in issues mailed weeks or months after the papers were formally accepted. Learning about this research required a personal subscription to specific journals, a well-funded library, or attendance at conferences to hear the latest results and read newly released journal issues. Even as the web came into existence, the idea of using this new platform to make a scientific journal available around the country or even the world was simply not considered. That is, until the JBC--then under the leadership of Dr. Herb Tabor--decided they must find a way. Working with professors at Stanford and the newly formed Stanford service group, Highwire Press, `JBC Online` was born in 1995. In this article, as a tribute to Dr. Tabor`s 100th birthday, I share my perspective and those of others involved in this transition as to what is so remarkable about the JBC going online. Specifically, I describe how Dr. Tabor`s governance and leadership of the JBC, and within the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, brought together many threads in the research, society, publishing, and technological context of the time to make sure that the JBC not only made this remarkable leap, but made it first and farthest, and paved a path for many other, and now virtually all, journals to follow.