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Information About

British Medical Journal




  Cover
  Discipline Medicine
  Abbreviation BMJ
  Publisher BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
  Country UK
  Frequency weekly
  History 1840-
  Openaccess Immediate after 12 months According to PubMed Central
  Website http://wwwbmjcom/
  ISSN 0959-8138


''BMJ'' is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world. It is published by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (owned by the British Medical Association ), whose other publications include popular sub-speciality journals like ''The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry'', '' Heart '', ''Thorax'', among others, and '' Student BMJ '' for medical students globally. Originally called the ''British Medical Journal'', the title was shortened to ''BMJ'' in 1988.[http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/about-bmj

The current editor of ''BMJ'' is Fiona Godlee, who replaced the former editor-in-chief, Richard Smith after he resigned in July 2004. She was appointed in February 2005, and Kamran Abbasi served as acting editor in the interim.


JOURNAL CONTENT

''BMJ'' is an emphatic advocate of Evidence-based Medicine , and publishes original Research , Clinical Review s, news, Editorial perspectives, personal views and Career focus articles, to mention a few. Recently its Readership has witnessed a surge in the number of articles focusing on medical Ethics and Health In Developing Nations .

The journal also releases a number of ' Theme issues' every year, when it publishes research and review articles pertaining to the theme addressed. Some of the popular theme issues in recent years include 'Health in Africa ', 'Management of Chronic Diseases ' and ' Global Voices on the AIDS Catastrophe '. A special 'Christmas Issue' is published annually, on the Friday before Christmas.


EDITIONS

''BMJ'' has four paper editions (which have the same content but different advertising):
  • General Practice edition for General Practitioners.

  • Clinical Research for hospital doctors.

  • International edition for overseas subscribers.

  • Compact Edition for retired members of the BMA.


Some of the international editions are also available in local languages.


FUNCTIONING OF THE JOURNAL

Submission of manuscripts to ''BMJ'' is done via an online manuscript processing system called BenchPress (a service of Stanford University 's HighWire Press ). Several authors have welcomed this all-online system , as it removes several cumbersome procedures employed by several other general medical journals while submitting a manuscript.