Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, visits Croatia to support the Croatian Medical Journal.

422 On 6 May 2008, Dr Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, gave the lecture “The nightmares of a middle-aged editor” at the Croatian Institute of History. Dr Horton’s lecture was a part of his visit to Croatia upon an invitation from the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports. The Ministry invited Dr Horton after his letter to the Croatian Prime Minister and Minister of Science about the situation with the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) and its editors, and the reaction of international scientific and editorial community (1). Dr Horton met the Minister of Science, Education, and Sports; the State Secretary for Science; the Rector of Zagreb University; and the Dean of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine. He also organized a conciliatory meeting between the CMJ editors and Prof. Nada Čikeš, the Dean of the School of Medicine, and Prof. Slobodan Vukičević, author of the analysis of the work of CMJ and its editors presented to the School’s Council in 2007, when the journal’s Agreement on Governance was questioned (2). The State Secretary for Science was also present at the meeting. A starting compromise was reached – that I apologize to the Dean’s Collegium for my possible offense to them and the School in my public statements and that the Dean’s Collegium drops the charges against me before the School’s Disciplinary Committee. The compromise was conditional, as the Dean, Prof. Čikeš, stated to Dr Horton that she needed the approval of the Collegium. Dr Horton’s plan for compromise was finally turned down by the Dean and her Collegium. The Disciplinary Committee of the School found me guilty of public speech and decided on the punishment of “public admonition” for the serious breach of work discipline. Dr Horton also gave a number of interviews for the Croatian press (3-6), speaking about the CMJ editors, the role of journal editor, and the responsibility of science to the public. Dr Horton’s speech to the public is available as web-extra material to this news piece.