Ten Things You Didn't Know About the Journal of Graduate Medical Education

Abstract

The Journal of Graduate Medical Education (JGME) was created to improve the quality of graduate medical education during a time of great change. JGME has 2 goals: (1) to provide a venue for educators and researchers to publish valuable research and innovation about residency and fellowship education and (2) to improve the quality of research available to inform graduate medical education training decisions.Articles about any aspect of resident and fellow training are appropriate for JGME. Single or multispecialty reports, and single- or multi-institutional reports are encouraged; single-specialty studies should be of interest and potentially applicable to other specialties.JGME is the only journal dedicated to advancing knowledge in graduate medical education. Educational articles often appear in specialty- or subspecialty-specific journals but are less likely to be read by those outside the specialty. Other medical education journals focus broadly on medical education, education outside the United States, or methodologic issues in education research; these journals may not be read routinely by program directors, associate/assistant deans for graduate medical education, and others directly involved in residency education.All content of the Journal, with the exception of the “ACGME News and Views” section, is determined by the JGME Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board. As with other peer-reviewed medical journals, the decisions of the editorial team are entirely independent from the sponsoring organization.Articles published in JGME do not reflect opinions of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or its Residency Review Committees, except for articles in the “ACGME News and Views” section.In June 2010, Gail Sullivan, MD, MPH, became JGME's first Editor-in-Chief. A professor of medicine at the UConn Center on Aging, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Dr Sullivan develops trainee and faculty resources for teaching geriatric medicine to nongeriatricians.Dr Sullivan has recruited a diverse Editorial Board, with interests and expertise in various specialties and areas of graduate medical education. Listed on the JGME's masthead, the editors include former and current program directors and associate/assistant deans for graduate medical education, teachers, and researchers in multiple areas of medical education.JGME is funded by ACGME, a private, nonprofit organization responsible for the accreditation of most residencies and fellowships in the United States. The ACGME is led by a Board of Directors, with members appointed by the American Board of Medical Specialties, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies as well as resident, public, and other members. The ACGME board appoints a Journal Oversight Committee, which oversees appointments of the JGME Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board and JGME business affairs.Editorial decisions are not subject to review by the Journal Oversight Committee or ACGME.Junior as well as senior authors are encouraged to submit articles for JGME. The quality of the work will determine acceptance. Submissions by residents and other junior investigators are welcome and have been already published in the Journal. In addition, the editorial office will assist authors in the clarity of their writing, when the ideas are worthy but the expression needs improvement.Articles relevant to graduate medical education are appropriate for JGME. Original medical research submitted as full-length articles or brief reports, educational innovations demonstrating new ideas in early stages of study, narrative and systematic reviews of educational topics, practical short pieces on educational and research topics, personal stories about epiphanies in teaching or learning, perspectives on key issues in graduate medical education, and letters to the editor are all categories for article submission.The entire review process for JGME occurs online, from article submission and reviews through final decision (www.jgme.org). After an initial screening by editorial staff to ensure the article is within JGME scope, an editor will assign 2 to 3 reviewers with relevant content or methodologic expertise to each article. Reviewers are asked to respond rapidly; additional reviewers may be recruited if first requests cannot be honored in a timely fashion.After reviews are completed, the editor will determine if the article can be accepted as is, provisionally accepted after minor revision, returned for major revision, or rejected. Depending on the extent of requested changes, authors are asked to respond within 30 to 60 days to reviewer comments.After acceptance, articles are published in the next JGME issue; the turnaround time between submission and publication is currently under 6 months.JGME is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December and sent, at no cost, to 10,000 program directors and designated institutional officials in the United States. Copies are also distributed to Canadian institutions for graduate medical education. In addition, there are paid subscriptions to the Journal.Queries may be sent through jgme@acgme.org or to Kavitha Reinhold, MA, senior editorial associate at kreinhold@acgme.orgThe Editorial Board looks forward to reviewing your submission to JGME.