John Maddox, an editor who helped turn the journal Nature into an international scientific authority, has died, his successor said Tuesday. He was 83.
Maddox, an Oxford-educated journalist, took over at Nature in 1966 at the request of Macmillan, the magazine's publisher. He streamlined and professionalized the review's ponderous publication process, putting articles into print only weeks after they were received.
"He threw aside the highly informal and somewhat crony-based system for selecting papers and established a system of peer review," Philip Campbell, who took over from Maddox in 1995, wrote on Nature's Web site.
Campbell told The Associated Press that Maddox, a former newspaper science correspondent, brought a faster, more journalistic edge to the publication. He said Maddox's attitude was to be "highly opportunistic _ in the best sense of the word _ and get on to a story and break news as much as you could."
Maddox also provided a significant chunk of the writing for the publication, writing unsigned editorials and extensive supplements.
Maddox also worked to establish Nature's worldwide reach, creating its first international office in Washington and aggressively covering discoveries beyond the Western world.
"If you look back, he drove coverage of science in Russia, science in China, places where there was real science going on, but didn't get as much attention as it deserved," Campbell said.
Maddox left Nature in 1973 but returned seven years later.
The BBC said Maddox died of pneumonia in the Welsh town of Abergavenny. Campbell confirmed that Maddox died Sunday but could not comment on the cause or location of his death. A telephone message left at Maddox's London address was not immediately returned.
Campbell said funeral arrangements were still be worked out.
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