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Journal of the American Medical Association

 
Journal of the American Medical Association

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Journal of the American Medical Association



 
 
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal
Medical journal

A medical journal is a scientific journal devoted to the field of medicine. Most medical journals are peer review. Medical journals commonly arose as the journal of societies, such as the precursor to the British Medical Association, and would originally be collections of letters sent to the society by distant members, with an account of the...
, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association
American Medical Association

The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated 1897, is the largest association of physicians and medical students in the United States....
. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world.

Founded in 1883 by the American Medical Association and published continuously since then, JAMA publishes original research, reviews, commentaries, editorials, essays, medical news, correspondence, and ancillary content (such as abstracts of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is a weekly epidemiology digest for the United States published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....
).






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JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal
Medical journal

A medical journal is a scientific journal devoted to the field of medicine. Most medical journals are peer review. Medical journals commonly arose as the journal of societies, such as the precursor to the British Medical Association, and would originally be collections of letters sent to the society by distant members, with an account of the...
, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association
American Medical Association

The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated 1897, is the largest association of physicians and medical students in the United States....
. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world.

Founded in 1883 by the American Medical Association and published continuously since then, JAMA publishes original research, reviews, commentaries, editorials, essays, medical news, correspondence, and ancillary content (such as abstracts of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is a weekly epidemiology digest for the United States published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....
). In 2005, JAMAs impact factor
Impact factor

The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure of the citations to scientific journal. It is frequently used as a proxy for the importance of a journal to its field....
 was 23.5, placing it among the leading general medical journals. JAMAs acceptance rate is approximately 8% of the nearly 6000 solicited and unsolicited manuscripts it receives annually. The first editor was Nathan Smith Davis, the founder of the American Medical Association
American Medical Association

The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated 1897, is the largest association of physicians and medical students in the United States....
, and the editor of JAMA is Catherine DeAngelis. JAMAs peer review process relies on some 3500 reviewers from over 40 countries.

Editorial independence

The contents of articles in
JAMA should be attributed to authors, rather than to the American Medical Association: "AMA disclaims any liability to any party for the accuracy, completeness or availability of the material or for any damages arising out of the use or non-use of any of the material and any information contained therein."

In 1999, the AMA's recently-appointed executive director, E. Ratcliffe Anderson, fired George Lundberg
George Lundberg

George D. Lundberg is a physician, board certified pathologist, and, since February 1999, editor of Medscape. For 17 years prior to joining Medscape Dr....
, editor of
JAMA. Lundberg was fired for publishing a survey of college students' attitudes about sex, by June Reinisch and Stephanie Sanders of the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research. Based on a 1991 survey of 599 students at a major Midwestern
Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
 state university, the paper reports that 60% (originally recorded as 59% in the results; the article indicates this as an erratum by the copy editor) of the group did not regard oral-genital contact
Oral sex

Oral sex refers to Human sexual behavior involving the stimulation of the Sex organ by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on a woman while fellatio and irrumatio refer to oral sex performed on a man....
 as having "had sex". Anderson was later fired himself as a result of other unrelated disputes with the AMA board. Lundberg joined Medscape
Medscape

Medscape is a web resource for physicians and other health professionals. It features peer-reviewed original medical journal articles, CME , a customized version of the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database, daily medical news, major conference coverage, and drug information?including a drug database and drug interaction checker....
 as editor-in-chief exactly one month after his dismissal from the AMA.

Editorials denouncing Lundberg's dismissal as a violation of editorial independence
Editorial independence

Editorial independence is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication. Editorial independence is tested, for instance, if a newspaper runs articles that may be unpopular with its advertising customers....
 appeared promptly in many medical journals, including the
CMAJ
Canadian Medical Association Journal

The Canadian Medical Association Journal is a general medical journal that is published biweekly by the Canadian Medical Association . It showcases innovative research and ideas aimed at improving health for people in Canada and globally....
, The Lancet
The Lancet

The Lancet is a peer-reviewed general medical journal, published weekly by Elsevier, part of Reed Elsevier.One of the world's best-known and most respected general medical journals, with editorial offices in London and New York, The Lancet was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, who named it after the surgical instrument called a lanc...
, BMJ
British Medical Journal

BMJ is an open access medical journal. It is among the most influential and widely read Peer review general academic journals in the field of medicine in the world....
, and MJA.

In the wake of the Lundberg dismissal the American Medical Association, working together with the
JAMA Editor Search Committee, a distinguished group of physicians and scientists, established a new process to arrive at the best governance alternatives for the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Archives Journals. The group developed a governance plan that was designed to insure editorial freedom and independence for JAMA, the Archives Journals, and their editors-in-chief. The primary recommendation arising from the search committee and documented in the governance plan was the recommendation to create a Journal Oversight Committee, made up of seven members, whose function is to evaluate the editor-in-chief and to help ensure editorial independence. To date the committee has met at least once a year since its inception.

Foreign editions

JAMA has been published in over 20 languages.

Other leading medical journals

  • Annals of Internal Medicine
    Annals of Internal Medicine

    Annals of Internal Medicine is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians . It publishes research articles and reviews in the area of internal medicine....
  • Archives of Internal Medicine
    Archives of Internal Medicine

    The Archives of Internal Medicine is an international peer-reviewed professional medical journal published twice a month by the American Medical Association....
  • British Medical Journal
    British Medical Journal

    BMJ is an open access medical journal. It is among the most influential and widely read Peer review general academic journals in the field of medicine in the world....
  • Canadian Medical Association Journal
    Canadian Medical Association Journal

    The Canadian Medical Association Journal is a general medical journal that is published biweekly by the Canadian Medical Association . It showcases innovative research and ideas aimed at improving health for people in Canada and globally....
  • Nature Medicine
    Nature Medicine

    Nature Medicine is an academic journal publishing research articles, reviews, news and commentaries in the biomedical area, including both basic research and early-phase clinical research....
  • New England Journal of Medicine
    New England Journal of Medicine

    The New England Journal of Medicine is an English language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is one of the most popular and widely-read peer-reviewed general medical journals in the world....
  • The Lancet
    The Lancet

    The Lancet is a peer-reviewed general medical journal, published weekly by Elsevier, part of Reed Elsevier.One of the world's best-known and most respected general medical journals, with editorial offices in London and New York, The Lancet was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, who named it after the surgical instrument called a lanc...
  • The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics
    The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics

    The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, commonly referred to as The Medical Letter, provides independent, unbiased critical evaluations of new drugs and sometimes older drugs when important new information becomes available....


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