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Discipline | Medicine |
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Language | English |
Edited by | Eric Rubin |
Publication details | |
Former name(s) |
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History | 1812–present |
Publisher | Massachusetts Medical Society (United States) |
Frequency | weekly |
Delayed (6 months) | |
176.079 (2021) | |
Standard abbreviations | |
Bluebook | New Eng. J. Med. |
ISO 4 | N. Engl. J. Med. |
Indexing | |
CODEN | NEJMAG |
ISSN | 0028-4793 (print) 1533-4406 (web) |
LCCN | 20020456 |
OCLC no. | 231027780 |
Links | |
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. [1] [2]
In September 1811, Boston physician John Collins Warren, [3] along with James Jackson, submitted a formal prospectus to establish the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and Collateral Branches of Science as a medical and philosophical journal. [4] Subsequently, the first issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical Science was published in January 1812. [5] The journal was published quarterly. [6]
In 1823, another publication, the Boston Medical Intelligencer, appeared under the editorship of Jerome V. C. Smith. [7]
The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical Science purchased the weekly Intelligencer for $600 in 1828, [8] merging the two publications to form the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, and shifting from quarterly to weekly publication. [9]
In 1921, the Massachusetts Medical Society purchased the Journal for US$1 [10] (equivalent to $17in 2023) and, in 1928, renamed it to The New England Journal of Medicine. [11]
The journal's logo depicts the snake-wrapped Rod of Asclepius crossed over a quill pen. The dates on the logo represent the founding of the components of The New England Journal of Medicine: 1812 for the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and Collateral Branches of Medical Science, 1823 for the Boston Medical Intelligencer, 1828 for the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, and 1928 for the New England Journal of Medicine. [12]
Notable articles from the course of The New England Journal of Medicine's history include:
![]() | This article possibly contains original research .(August 2022) |
On April 25, 1996, the NEJM announced a new web site, which published each week the abstracts for research articles and the full text of editorials, cases, and letters to the editor. After print publishing for 184 years this was the NEJM's first use of the Internet for electronic publication. [30]
The site was launched several months earlier in 1996, but the editors wanted proof that weekly electronic publication would work. Only then was an announcement approved for publication on the editorial page. In 1997, the website included prepublication releases of certain articles prior to their print publication. [31] In 1998, online publication extended to include the full text of all its articles from 1993 forward. [32]
Since its launch, NEJM has added to its site: [33]
The George Polk Awards site noted that its 1977 award to The New England Journal of Medicine: "...provided the first significant mainstream visibility for a publication that would achieve enormous attention and prestige in the ensuing decades." [36]
The journal usually has the highest impact factor of the journals of internal medicine. According to the Journal Citation Reports, NEJM had a 2017 impact factor of 79.258, [37] ranking it first of 153 journals in the category "General & Internal Medicine". [38] It was the only journal in the category with an impact factor of more than 70. By comparison, the second and third ranked journals in the category ( The Lancet and JAMA) had impact factors of 53.254 and 47.661 respectively. [39]
Theodore Dalrymple feels that this influence is unwarranted. In False Positive: A Year of Error, Omission, and Political Correctness in the New England Journal of Medicine, he examines various articles on medical and social issues that the NEJM published over the course of a year. He found that many arrived at conclusions which were not supported by the evidence presented, or ignored easily available evidence that contradicted their conclusions. [40]
In 2022, NEJM set up a new sub-journal, NEJM Evidence. NEJM Evidence is a monthly digital journal featuring original research. It focuses on clinical trials and decision making.
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Discipline | Medicine |
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Language | English |
Edited by | Jeffrey M. Drazen |
Publication details | |
History | 2022–present |
Publisher | NEJM Group (United States) |
Frequency | monthly |
Standard abbreviations | |
ISO 4 | NEJM Evid. |
Links | |
The New England Journal of Medicine requires that articles it publishes have not been published or released elsewhere. Referred to as the Ingelfinger rule, the policy is intended to protect newsworthiness, and to subject research to peer review "before it is touted to the public or the profession". [41] By 1991, four types of exceptions were recognized, including when "prepublication release of research conclusions is warranted because of immediate implications for the public health". [42]
The rule was first described in a 1969 editorial, "Definition of Sole Contribution", by Franz Ingelfinger, the editor-in-chief at that time. [41] [43] A number of medical journals have similar rules in place. [44] [45]
In the early 2000s, The New England Journal of Medicine was involved in a controversy around problems with research on the drug Vioxx. A study was published in the journal in November 2000 which noted an increase in myocardial infarction amongst those taking Vioxx. [46] According to Richard Smith, the former editor of the British Medical Journal , concerns about the correctness of that study were raised with the journal's editor, Jeff Drazen, as early as August 2001. That year, both the US Food and Drug Administration and the Journal of the American Medical Association also cast doubt on the validity of the data interpretation that had been published in the NEJM. [47] Merck withdrew the drug from market in September 2004. In December 2005, NEJM published an expression of concern about the original study following discovery that the authors knew more about certain adverse events than they disclosed at the time of publication. From the Expression of Concern: "Until the end of November 2005, we believed that these were late events that were not known to the authors in time to be included in the article published in the Journal on November 23, 2000. It now appears, however, from a memorandum dated July 5, 2000, that was obtained by subpoena in the Vioxx litigation and made available to the Journal, that at least two of the authors knew about the three additional myocardial infarctions at least two weeks before the authors submitted the first of two revisions and 4 1/2 months before publication of the article." [48] During the five-year period between publication and Expression of Concern, it has been estimated that Merck paid NEJM as much as US$836,000 for article reprints that Merck used for promotional purposes. [49] The journal was publicly rebuked for its response to the research issues in editorials appearing in publications including the British Medical Journal [47] and the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine . [50]
NEJM makes articles that meet the criteria for global and public health importance freely available to all readers upon publication at NEJM.org. NEJM also partners with Research4Life in their Access to Research in Health (Hinari) program to grant to low-income countries immediate free access to NEJM.org.
NEJM does not charge authors any submission or publication fees. NEJM also works with authors whose articles report research supported by funding bodies with open access mandates, including (but not limited to) Plan S funders and the U.S. government, including NIH, to ensure that authors are able to meet their funders’ requirements for public access to research results.
For research articles submitted before February 1, 2024, NEJM makes the full-text Version of Record available at NEJM.org six months after publication. For research articles submitted on or after February 1, 2024, NEJM will provide authors with a PDF file of the Author Accepted Manuscript that may be deposited in a noncommercial repository after publication. [51]
NEJM also has two podcast features, one with interviews of doctors and researchers that are publishing in the journal, and another summarizing the content of each issue. Other offerings include Continuing Medical Education, Videos in Clinical Medicine (showing videos of medical procedures), and the weekly Image Challenge.
A randomized controlled trial is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical techniques, medical devices, diagnostic procedures, diets or other medical treatments.
The BMJ is a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Group, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). The BMJ has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Previously called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988, and then changed to The BMJ in 2014. The journal is published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, a subsidiary of the British Medical Association (BMA). The current editor-in-chief of The BMJ is Kamran Abbasi, who was appointed in January 2022.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal is a peer-reviewed open-access general medical journal published by the Canadian Medical Association. It publishes original clinical research, analyses and reviews, news, practice updates, and editorials.
Science by press conference or science by press release is the practice by which scientists put an unusual focus on publicizing results of research in the news media via press conferences or press releases. The term is usually used disparagingly, to suggest that the seekers of publicity are promoting claims of questionable scientific merit, using the media for attention as they are unlikely to win the approval of the scientific community.
Henry Joseph Macaulay Barnett was a Canadian physician and neurologist, a leading stroke researcher as a result of being the principal investigator in several major clinical trials. As a clinical scientist, he did pioneering research in stroke prevention, beginning with the use of aspirin.
In journalism and public relations, a news embargo or press embargo is a request or requirement by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met. They are often used by businesses making a product announcement, by medical journals, and by government officials announcing policy initiatives; the media is given advance knowledge of details being held secret so that reports can be prepared to coincide with the announcement date and yet still meet press time.
Medical literature is the scientific literature of medicine: articles in journals and texts in books devoted to the field of medicine. Many references to the medical literature include the health care literature generally, including that of dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and the allied health professions.
Marcia Angell is an American physician, author, and the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Arnold Seymour Relman — known as Bud Relman to intimates — was an American internist and professor of medicine and social medicine. He was editor of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from 1977 to 1991, where he instituted two important policies: one asking the popular press not to report on articles before publication and another requiring authors to disclose conflicts of interest. He wrote extensively on medical publishing and reform of the U.S. health care system, advocating non-profit delivery of single-payer health care. Relman ended his career as professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
David Lawrence Sackett was an American-Canadian physician and a pioneer in evidence-based medicine. He is known as one of the fathers of Evidence-Based Medicine. He founded the first department of clinical epidemiology in Canada at McMaster University, and the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. He is well known for his textbooks Clinical Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Medicine.
Franz Joseph Ingelfinger was a German-American physician, researcher and journal editor. He served as Chief of Gastroenterology at Evans Memorial Department of Clinical Research, part of Boston University School of Medicine. He also served as Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from 1967 to 1976. His work was influential in the field of science journalism.
In scientific publishing, the 1969 Ingelfinger rule originally stipulated that The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) would not publish findings that had been published elsewhere, in other media or in other journals. The rule was subsequently adopted by several other scientific journals, and has shaped scientific publishing ever since. Historically it has also helped to ensure that the journal's content is fresh and does not duplicate content previously reported elsewhere, and seeks to protect the scientific embargo system.
Anthony L. Komaroff is an American physician, clinical investigator, editor, and publisher. He serves as the Distinguished Simcox-Clifford-Higby Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Kodaganur S. Gopinath, MS, FAMS, FRCS (Edin) is an Indian surgical oncologist, known for his pioneering work on oncological research. He is a recipient of many awards including Dr. B. C. Roy Award, considered to be the premier medical honour in the country. The President of India recognised his services to the field of oncology, by awarding him the fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri, in 2010.
Mandeep R. Mehra is The William Harvey Distinguished Chair in Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the medical director of the Brigham Heart and Vascular Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and specializes in advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support and cardiac transplantation.
Conflicts of interest (COIs) often arise in academic publishing. Such conflicts may cause wrongdoing and make it more likely. Ethical standards in academic publishing exist to avoid and deal with conflicts of interest, and the field continues to develop new standards. Standards vary between journals and are unevenly applied. According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, "[a]uthors have a responsibility to evaluate the integrity, history, practices and reputation of the journals to which they submit manuscripts".
Surgisphere is an American healthcare analytics company established in 2008 by Sapan Desai. Originally a textbook marketing company, it came under scrutiny in May 2020 after it provided large datasets of COVID-19 patients that were subsequently found to be unreliable. The questionable data were used in studies published in The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine in May 2020, suggesting that COVID-19 patients on hydroxychloroquine had a "significantly higher risk of death". In light of these studies, the World Health Organization decided to temporarily halt global trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. After the studies were retracted, the WHO trials were resumed and then discontinued shortly after.
John Ware was an American physician, college professor, and editor. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1832 to 1858. He was a founding member of the Boston Society of Natural History and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Joseph Garland (1893–1973) was an American pediatrician and editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Donald Redelmeier, M.D., M.S., FRCPC, FACP is a Canadian internist, the Canada Research Chair in Medical Decision Sciences and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is most well known for a seminal New England Journal of Medicine paper in 1997 connecting cellphone use and motor vehicle accidents, which has led to laws banning the use of cellphones while driving across the world. He is also known for his work on the peak–end rule and duration neglect. A recent publication showing an increased rate of motor vehicle accidents in patients who refuse vaccination was featured on media outlets around the world.
...publishing the first quarterly edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical Science (Boston) in January of 1812.
In 1921, the journal merged with the Boston Medical Intelligencer to become the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal; it also began weekly publication that year and was purchased by the Massachusetts Medical Society for $1.
Renamed to the New England Journal of Medicine in 1928, the journal is known for many firsts in medicine, ....