The first medical journals were general medical journals. The first English-language general medical journal wasMedicina Curiosa, established in 1684, but it ceased publication after only two issues.[2] The first medical journal to be published in theUnited Kingdom was Medical Essays and Observations, established in 1731 and published inEdinburgh;[3] the first to be published in the United States wasThe Medical Repository, established in 1797.[4]
Among the oldest general medical journals that are still in publication today areThe Lancet, established in 1823, and theNew England Journal of Medicine, established in 1812.[2]Specialty-specific medical journals were first introduced in the early 20th century.[5]
Journals that are recognized as general medical journals includeThe Lancet, theNew England Journal of Medicine,[2] and theAnnals of Internal Medicine.[7] In 2009, the three highest-ranked general medical journals by impact factor wereJAMA,The Lancet, and theNew England Journal of Medicine.[8] TheBMJ's web editor, Tony Delamothe, has described the BMJ as a general medical journal.[9]The Medical Journal of Australia is the only general medical journal in Australia,[10] and theCanadian Medical Association Journal has been called the leading general medical journal in Canada.[11]
Richard Smith, the former editor of the medical journalthe BMJ, has been critical of many of the aspects of modern-day medical journal publishing.[5][12] Critics of medical publishing have argued that problems related to gaming of citation and authorship are prevalent in the field, as many authors did not actually contribute to the articles that their names are on, many contributors to the articles are excluded from authorship, and strategic and unnecessary citations are prevalent to boost scores.[13]
PhysiciansJohn Abramson andRichard Smith have argued that because a significant share of medical journals' revenue comes from selling reprints of pharmaceutical drug studies as marketing materials, the journals face aconflict of interest to accept submissions that exaggerate or misstate the efficacy of new medications. For example, in 2005, 41% ofThe Lancet's income came from reprint sales.[14]
^Kahn, Richard J.; Kahn, Patricia G. (2009-08-20). "The Medical Repository — The First U.S. Medical Journal (1797–1824)".New England Journal of Medicine.337 (26):1926–1930.doi:10.1056/nejm199712253372617.PMID9407162.
^Ray, Joel; Berkwits, Michael; Davidoff, Frank (August 2000). "The fate of manuscripts rejected by a general medical journal".The American Journal of Medicine.109 (2):131–135.doi:10.1016/S0002-9343(00)00450-2.PMID10967154.
^Kulkarni, Abhaya V. (9 September 2009). "Comparisons of Citations in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar for Articles Published in General Medical Journals".JAMA.302 (10):1092–6.doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1307.PMID19738094.
^MacDonald, Stuart (2023). "The gaming of citation and authorship in academic journals: a warning from medicine".Social Science Information.61 (4):457–480.doi:10.1177/05390184221142218.S2CID256710783.
^Abramson, John (2022).Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It.HarperCollins. pp. 171–172.ISBN978-1-328-95781-8.
