British Medical Journal
From Freepedia
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) is a medical journal published weekly in the United Kingdom by the British Medical Association (BMA)which published its first issue in 1845. The current editor is Fiona Godlee, who was appointed in February 2005, replacing the former editor-in-chief Richard Smith.
The BMJ differs from most other academic or medical journals because it functions as the "in house" journal of the BMA, as well as front line medical research. The BMJ is a part of the wider BMJ Publishing Group, which publishes other important sub-speciality journals like Heart, Thorax, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, amidst others, and for medical students, student BMJ. The student BMJ is the most widely read student medical journal in the world, written profusely by students and edited by a student editor replaced annually.
The BMJ is a known advocate of evidence-based medicine, and publishes original research, clinical reviews, news, editorial perspectives, personal views, career focus articles to mention a few.
It is considered to be one of the 'core' general medical journals; the others being the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med), the Journal of the American Medical Association(JAMA), The Lancet and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Some also include "Annals of Internal Medicine" in this category.
In the past all content of the BMJ was freely available online; however, it recently (2005) changed to a subscription model. Research articles shall continue to remain under open access. All other articles are free for the first week after publication; then the access is restricted for 12 months.
The BMJ, like N Engl J Med, allows complete free access for visitors from economically disadvantaged countries. Of the major general medical journals, only the Canadian Medical Association Journal is available under open access (i.e. no registration/login is required). The Journal of Clinical Investigation (J Clin Invest), though not a general medical journal, is a notable biomedical research journal whose entire archive is completely free online.
