History
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A short History of the N.O.F. By Jukka H. Meurman |
| "Nordiska föreningen för befrämjande af odontologisk undervisning och forskning" (N.O.F.) was founded by a group of Scandinavian dentists on January 7, 1917, in Göteborg, Sweden. The new society held annual meetings where aspects of dental education and research were discussed. Before the birth of N.O.F., "Skandinavisk Tandläkarförening" (Scandinavian Dentists´ Association, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1866) was the only such a forum in the Nordic countries. This association nutured the birth of N.O.F., because those far-sighted colleagues thought that a scientific organization must be separated from "Tandläkarförening" which was mainly focused on professional questions. The original suggestion to lay foundation for a scientific organization was signed in Stockholm on August 15, 1916 by the following colleagues: Hj. Avellan, P. Uno A. Hylin, S. Glad, J. Rygge, Imm. Ottesen, V. Bloch, E. Budtz-Jörgensen and Karl Elander. Today, N.O.F. is one of the oldest dental research organizations in the world. |
| N.O.F. - Scandinavian Division of IADR - Scandinavian Association for Dental Research |
| In 1969 a committee was appointed to explore the amendments needed in the N.O.F. and IADR Constitution and Bylaws in order to merge the Nordic association with the International Association for Dental Research. N.O.F. was made an official Division to the International Association for Dental Research in 1970. The official name of the organization was then "Nordisk Odontologisk Förening, Scandinavian Division of the International Association for Dental Research". (In 1990, the official name of the association was changed to "Scandinavian Association for Dental Research" but the shorter terms "Scandinavian Division" and "NOF" are still commonly used by members of the international research community). The new IADR Constitution was implemented by NOF in its Annual Meeting in 1972. The Association has since then been formally represented in the IADR Council. For many years, problems existed in keeping the membership register up-to-date, because one could be either a member of the NOF only, member of both the NOF and IADR, or member directly to the IADR, without a mandatory divisional membership. Only recently (1998) were these complicated membership category problems solved, when the IADR Council accepted an amendment to the Constitution declaring that each member of the IADR living in an area where a Division exists, must also be member of that Division. |
| Odontologisk Tidskrift - Scandinavian Journal of Dental Research - European Journal of Oral Sciences |
| In 1893 in Göteborg, Sweden, publishing a dental journal named "Odontologisk Tidskrift" was started. The first Editor was Dr. Immanuel Ekström from Sweden. The journal was made the official journal of the N.O.F. from 1919 onwards. The name was changed into "Scandinavian Journal of Dental Research" in 1970. Prof. Jens J. Pindborg from Denmark was the Editor for a period from 1969 until 1994. During his 25-year term, the Scandinavian Journal of Dental Research greatly improved in quality and volume. Due to his efforts, the Journal was soon cited in the leading literature indexes (later databases). By 1980s the scientific impact factor of the Journal increased so that it now ranked high among the leading dental research publications. The Journal was published by the Danish company Munksgaard. In 1995 the name was changed into "European Journal of Oral Sciences" following an agreement signed at the end of the previous year making the European Journal now the official publication both to the Continental European and to the Scandinavian Divisions of the IADR. The Editor since 1995 is Prof. Anders Linde from Sweden and Journal is still published by the Munksgaard company. |
| Administration |
| Until recently, the administration of N.O.F. was on composite structure so that four nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) had regional Boards whose five members in each nation were elected at the highest governing body, General Assembly, at the annual meetings. Iceland was accepted as the fifth member country in 19xx. The meetings traditionally rotated between the five countries. Subsequently, national Board in the region where the next meeting was to be arranged acted as the Executive Board and its chairman was the President of the Association and also councilor to the IADR. All the five national sections had an economy of their own while mutual expenses, such as secretarial costs and travel costs of the councilors, where covered separately. In 1996 a new Constitution was accepted, however, because the composite structure was found complicated and expensive to run with its 25 elected Board members plus the officers. Today, the Board comprises only one representative from each country, and now the association has only one Treasurer and one secretariate (see below). The national members to the Board are elected principally for five-years. In addition, the Treasurer, the Editor and the Secretary-General attend the Board meetings ex-officio. Their term of office is also five years. In 1983 the General Assembly appointed professor Knut Selvig to the newly formed post of Secretary- General. This greatly improved the daily administration of the organization, because now a permanent mailing address and office could be established instead of the rotating system previously in effect. This also greatly improved the communication between IADR and NOF. Prof. Selvig served until 1996, when the present Secretary-General, prof. Jukka H. Meurman took over in this office. The Secretary-General is also one of the councilors of NOF thus representing the organization at the highest IADR governing body. Prof. Selvig was elected the first Honorary Member of NOF at the 80th Annual Meeting hold in Reykjavik, Iceland, 1997. |
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