The New England Journal of Medicine
Discipline | Medicine |
---|---|
Language | English |
Edited by | Eric Rubin |
Publication details | |
Former name(s) |
|
History | 1812–present |
OCLC no. | 231027780 |
Links | |
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It has been described as being among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals[1][2] as well as being the oldest continuously published one.[1]
History
In September 1811, John Collins Warren, a Boston physician,[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 $16 in 2022) and, in 1928, renamed it to The New England Journal of Medicine.[11]
Logo
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
Notable articles from the course of The New England Journal of Medicine's history include:
This article possibly contains original research. (August 2022) |
- In November 1846, anesthetics with the first uses of inhaled ether in 1846. This allowed patients to remain sedated during operations ranging from dental extraction to amputation.[13]"A patient has been rendered completely insensible during an amputation of the thigh, regain consciousness after a short interval," Bigelow wrote. "Other severe operations have been performed without the knowledge of the patients."
- In June 1906, platelets.[14]
- In October 1872, a lecture by Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard was published that proposed the then-revolutionary idea that one cerebral hemisphere can influence both sides of the body. The neurologist would go on to describe what is now known as the Brown-Séquard syndrome.[15]
- In June 1948, folic acid, he worked on blocking folic acid metabolism. His team gave 16 infants and children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia a folic acid inhibitor, aminopterin—10 showed improvement by clinical and hematologic parameters after three months.[16]In his article, Farber advised receiving the results cautiously: "It is again emphasized that these remissions are temporary in character and that the substance is toxic and may be productive of even greater disturbances than have been encountered so far in our studies," he wrote. "No evidence has been mentioned in this report that would justify the suggestion of the term 'cure' of acute leukemia in children."
- In November 1952, cardiologist ventricular asystole lasting for hours to days. This procedure may prove valuable in many clinical situations."[17]
- In February 1973, NEJM published the first report of polyp removal using a colonoscope and introduced a procedure during screening to reduce cancer risk. The authors reported on 218 patients, from whom they removed 303 polyps (at one or more procedures per patient).[18]
- A letter published in the NEJM in 1980 was later described by the journal as having been "heavily and uncritically cited"[19] to claim that addiction due to use of opioids was rare, and its publication in such an authoritative journal was used by pharmaceutical companies to push widespread use of opioid drugs, leading to an addiction crisis in the U.S. and other countries.[20]
- In December 1981, two landmark articlesAIDS.
- In April 2001, Brian Druker et al. reported a targeted therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Based on the knowledge that BCR-ABL, a constitutively activated tyrosine kinase, causes CML, the authors tested with success an inhibitor of this tyrosine kinase in patients who had failed first-line therapy. The finding helped begin the era of designing cancer drugs to target specific molecular abnormalities.[23]
- In October 2020, the journal published an editorial, signed by all 34 editors, in which they condemned the Trump administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic saying that "they are dangerously incompetent" and that "they have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy." This is the first time NEJM has ever supported or condemned a political candidate and only three other times in history has an editorial been signed by all the editors.[24]
- In April 2021, Robin Carhart-Harris et al. demonstrated that in the pharmacological treatment of major depressive disorder, there was no significant difference in antidepressant effects between the psychedelic drug psilocybin and the SSRI escitalopram after six weeks.[25] Significant doses of psilocybin were only administered twice in the six-week period, while escitalopram was taken daily. This was the first time psychedelics and SSRIs were compared in the treatment of depression.[26][27][28]
Social media
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.[29]
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.[30] In 1998, online publication extended to include the full text of all its articles from 1993 forward.[31]
Since its launch, NEJM has added to its site:[32]
- Videos in Clinical Medicine, peer-reviewed educational videos to teach procedures requiring skilled techniques and specialized physical examination.[33]
- Interactive Medical Cases, which mimic a clinical encounter by presenting the patient's history with results of the physical examination and laboratory and radiographic tests. Multiple-choice questions throughout test the taker's knowledge.[34]
- NEJM Archive, the entire collection of the journal's published material.[32]
Influence
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."[35]
The journal usually has the highest
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.[39]
Specialty journals
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.
Discipline | Medicine |
---|---|
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 | |
Ingelfinger rule
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".[40] 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".[41]
The rule was first described in a 1969
Vioxx correction controversy
In the early 2000s, The New England Journal of Medicine was involved in a controversy around problems with research on the drug
Open access policy
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.[50]
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.
Editors
- Walter Prentice Bowers, 1921–1937
- Robert Nason Nye, 1937–1947
- Joseph Garland, 1947–1967
- Franz J. Ingelfinger, 1967–1977
- Arnold S. Relman, 1977–1991
- Jerome P. Kassirer, 1991–1999
- Marcia Angell, 1999–2000
- Jeffrey M. Drazen, 2000–2019
- Eric Rubin, 2019–present
See also
References
- ^ a b Zuger, Abigail (March 19, 2012). "A journal stands out in prestige and longevity". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
- ^ "Scholar Metrics: Top Publications". Google Scholar.
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- ^ Boston Patriot. September 28, 1811
- ^ "January 1, 1812, table of contents for the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical Science". Retrieved 2011-12-22.
- ^ "About NEJM: Past and Present". nejm.org. New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
...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.
- ^ Fitz-Gilbert Waters, Henry (1894). The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 48. New England Historic Genealogical Society. pp. 148–149.
- PMID 14929322.
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- ^ "About NEJM: Past and Present". nejm.org. New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
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.
- ^ "About NEJM: Past and Present". nejm.org. New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
Renamed to the New England Journal of Medicine in 1928, the journal is known for many firsts in medicine, ....
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- ^ "Opioid crisis: The letter that started it all". BBC News. June 3, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
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- ^ Kolata, Gina (7 October 2020). "In a First, New England Journal of Medicine Joins Never-Trumpers". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
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- ^ Sloat, Sarah. "Scientist compared psilocybin against antidepressants for the first time". Inverse. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
- ^ "Psychedelic drug worked for depression as well as common antidepressant, small trial finds". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
- ^ Siebert, Amanda. "Could Psilocybin Treat Depression? New Head-To-Head Trial Shows It's At Least As Effective As Leading SSRI". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
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- ^ a b "The New England Journal of Medicine Celebrates 200th Anniversary in 2012" (Press release). Business Wire. January 12, 2012. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
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- ^ Hershey, Edward. "A history of journalistic integrity, superb reporting and protecting the public: The George Polk Awards in Journalism". LIU Brooklyn. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010.
- ^ "Media Center: Fact Sheet". nejm.org. Massachusetts Medical Society. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
- ^ "Rank in Category: New England Journal of Medicine". 2017 Journal Citation Reports. Web of Science (Science ed.). Thomson Reuters. 2015.
- ^ "Journals Ranked by Impact: Medicine, General & Internal". 2014 Journal Citation Reports. Web of Science (Science ed.). Thomson Reuters. 2015.
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- ^ "Editorial Policies". nejm.org. Massachusetts Medical Society. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
Bibliography
- Conaboy, Chelsea (June 17, 2012). "You've come a long way, doc". The Boston Globe Magazine (milestones of the NEJM).
- Müller, Daniel C.; Duff, Ellen M.C.; Stern, Kathy L. (2012). "Timeline: 200 years of the New England Journal of Medicine". The New England Journal of Medicine. 366 (1): e3. PMID 22216863.