BMJ (company)

BMJ (previously BMJ Group, rebranded in 2013), is a provider of journals, clinical decision support, events and medical education. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association. Established in 1840 with the publication of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal (later the first edition of the British Medical Journal), it is now a fully commercial organisation with about 550 staff and offices based in 7 locations around the world including North America, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India and China.

The company's products and services also extend to offer rights and licensing, targeted advertising and sponsorship opportunities for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, recruiters, and the general medical community.

BMJ major publications

• 1840: Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal (later renamed the British Medical Journal) first published
• 1847: James Simpson uses the journal to publicise chloroform, which paved the way for modern anaesthetic techniques
• 1867: Joseph Lister publishes his introduction to the concept of antiseptic in wound healing^[1]
• 1950: Richard Doll publishes his discovery of the link between tobacco consumption and lung cancer^[2]
• 1958: Alice Stewart publishes her study of the risks of low-level radiation^[3]
• 1995: First website

BMJ campaigns

• 1865-71: Baby farming - BMJ was largely responsible for the Infant Life Protection Act of 1872, directed against the lucrative practice of baby farming. The BMJ led a series of exposures which forced an inquiry into the state of London's work-house infirmaries.^[4]
• 2009: Tamiflu and open data campaign - A Cochrane review and BMJ Investigation into the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu sparked a worldwide campaign for access to hidden clinical trial data
• 2011: MMR investigation - A series of BMJ Investigations about the MMR vaccine scare led a BMJ editorial to conclude that the 1998 Lancet paper that started the scare was "an elaborate fraud".
• 2013: The Patient revolution - The BMJ launched an initiative to champion partnerships between doctors and patients in healthcare and research.
• 2014: The BMJ journal was awarded the coveted "Patients Included" badge; the first medical journal to receive it.

Online history

• 1995: The BMJ was the first general medical journal to be available online.
• 1998: The BMJ online was publishing the free full text of all The BMJ articles.
• 2005: Hybrid business model for online access. The BMJ kept research content open access but started to charge for non-research content (news and editorials). It introduced author fees in 2010.
• 2011: BMJ Open launched as an online, author-pays, open access journal.
• 2014: BMJ makes its integrated clinical audit software available to healthcare providers in the UK.

See also

• BMJ academic journals
• Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, of which BMJ is a member

References