From the Editor's Desk: Our Paper Anniversary

Abstract

Tradition has it that first anniversaries are celebrated with gifts of paper. Thus, it is fitting that on this first anniversary of our start as co-Editors in Chief of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, we should look back on the 12 paper issues we’ve published in 2010. The paper journal is sent to every member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and to a diminishing number of libraries who still choose to display the bound journal instead of relying solely on electronic access. As editors, we take the print journal seriously, striving to craft each issue to be a self-contained and coherent whole. This year has seen the addition of several new features that we hope add value to each issue. From the Editor's Desk directs readers’ attention to articles and themes of special interest. Exercises in Clinical Reasoning examines the diagnostic process as highly skilled clinicians work through a tough clinical case. Innovations and Improvement explores the process of quality improvement and enlivens the journal through interviews and first person narratives, and Healing Arts sounds the lived experience of general internal medicine in essays, poems, and criticism. Although we choose the articles appearing in each issue of the print journal with care, most consumers of medical journals never touch the paper of each monthly issue and instead prefer to access JGIM and other journal content as if it were on iTunes, searching through titles and abstracts and downloading individual articles. They find JGIM content through on-line sources such as Google Scholar, PubMed Central, and others. In fact, over the past year, while Springer, our publisher, mailed just over 2,000 copies of the paper journal to subscribers or members each month, there have been more than 1 million JGIM articles downloaded by readers since the publication of our inaugural issue last January. This, of course, is the present and future of medical journals; the increasing ‘webification’ of journal content and the growing irrelevance of the print journal. We are well aware of these trends and will work over the remaining 4 years of our editorship to prepare JGIM for the inevitable demise of the print journal and the predominance of the web-based journal. With the help of Associate Editor Malathi Srinivasan and others, work on eJGIM has already begun. In addition, the next 12 months will see the reinvigoration of Innovations in Medical Education, a stunning series of articles on Health Policy, and new collaborations with AHRQ, the VA, and the Annals of Internal Medicine. JGIM depends on the generosity of a committed and outstanding group of reviewers. In 2009–2010, JGIM reviewers volunteered their time and expertise to review about half of the more than 1,000 manuscripts that JGIM receives each year. During this period, 986 reviewers provided a total of 1,294 reviews with a mean quality score of 2.98 on a scale of 1–6 (as judged by JGIM Deputy Editors). Of these, 276 provided at least two reviews, and 29 provided three or more. We are indebted to them for their service. Among this group of dedicated peer reviewers, there is a cohort that stands out. Reviewers included in this prestigious group performed at least two reviews between July 2009 and June 2010, returned all reviews within 30 days, and received no quality score on any review lower than 4 on our 1–6 scale. An asterisk identifies the 131 reviewers meeting these criteria. We thank them for their efforts on behalf of the Journal. In our first “From the Editor’s Desk” in January 2010 we wrote: “In steering the journal forward over the next 5 years, we will be guided by the principle that JGIM is a journal for generalists committed to improving the world in which they practice and teach. Thus, we will seek to publish data derived from settings where real patients live and real doctors practice, as well as reviews and tools that clinicians and educators can use to do their jobs more effectively, efficiently, and humanely.” We remain committed to this vision over the next 4 years and hope that you, our readers, will join us by continuing to submit to, review for, read, and respond to JGIM. Whether in print or on-line, JGIM is your journal, and we need to hear from you. Send us an e-mail (or a paper letter!) and share your thoughts for the future of medical journalism and the future of medicine. The Editors