Society for Epidemiologic Research

The mission of the Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER), established in 1968, is to create a forum for sharing the most up-to-date information in epidemiologic research and to keep epidemiologists at the vanguard of scientific developments. [Page 996]SER is a membership organization governed by a fourmember executive committee (president, presidentelect, past president, and secretary-treasurer) and a five-member board including one student representative; the executive committee and the board members are elected by the SER membership. SER holds an annual scientific meeting and is one of the sponsors, along with the American College of Epidemiology and the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association, of the North American Congress of Epidemiology, which is held every 5 years (most recently in 2006). In addition, SER sponsors publication of the professional journals American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiologic Reviews and publishes a semiannual newsletter concerning SER activities (available on the SER Web site). The SER office is located in Clearfield, Utah, USA.

The annual meeting of the SER is held in the United States or Canada. The 40th annual meeting was held in Boston, Massachusetts, in June 2007. The 41st annual meeting will be held in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2008. The meeting includes presentation of scientific papers and posters by SER members, roundtable discussions, and instructional workshops. The winner of the Abraham Lilienfeld Student Prize, which is awarded annually for the best paper describingresearchdoneasastudentinanadvanceddegree program with a concentration in epidemiology, is invited to present his or her research during the plenary session of the annual meeting.

Epidemiologic Reviews is published once a year by Oxford University Press. It publishes review articles focused on a particular theme, which is changed annually: The 2006 issue focused on vaccines and public health, and the 2007 issue focuses on the epidemiology of obesity. The American Journal of Epidemiology is published 24 times a year by Oxford University Press and publishes original research articles, reviews, methodology articles, editorials, and letters to the editor. In 2005, the impact factor for Epidemiologic Reviews was 4.722, and the impact factor for the American Journal of Epidemiology was 5.068, ranking them second and fourth among 99 journals in public, environmental, and occupational health.