BMJ

About BMJ

The BMJ is one of the world's oldest and most widely read general medical journals, published in London by the British Medical Association. Known to generations of doctors simply as the British Medical Journal - the title it carried for most of its history - it combines peer-reviewed research with campaigning journalism, and its open peer review and editorial independence have made it a distinctive voice in medical publishing. With an impact factor of 55.1 (2025), it stands alongside The Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA as one of the core general medical journals of the world.

Published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association, The BMJ nevertheless enjoys formal editorial freedom from its owner. Edited since January 2022 by Kamran Abbasi, it appears fortnightly in print and daily online, reaching clinicians, researchers and policymakers across the globe. Below is a detailed profile of the journal: its Victorian origins, its editors, its publishing model and its role in modern medicine.

Founding as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal

The BMJ began publishing on 3 October 1840 under the title Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, the organ of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association - the body that would later become the British Medical Association. Its first editors were P. Hennis Green, a lecturer on the diseases of children at the Hunterian School of Medicine who was also the journal's founder, and Robert Streeten of Worcester, a member of the association's council.

The first issue was 16 pages long and contained three simple woodcut illustrations. Its longest items were the editors' introductory editorial and a report of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association's Eastern Branch; other pages carried a condensed version of Henry Warburton's medical reform bill, book reviews, clinical papers and case notes. From the start the journal attracted the attention of physicians around the world through its publication of high-impact original research articles and unique case reports.

Name Changes and Early Growth

In 1857, when the association became the British Medical Association, the journal was renamed the British Medical Journal - the title under which it became famous. It kept that name for more than 130 years: the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988, and then changed to The BMJ in 2014. Each change reflected the journal's transformation from a national professional organ into an international medical brand.

For much of its history its sole competitor was The Lancet, also based in the UK. With increasing globalisation, The BMJ came to face tough competition from other medical journals, particularly the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, and it responded by internationalising its authorship, readership and editorial outlook while keeping its base in London.

Ownership and Editorial Independence

The BMJ is published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which is in turn wholly owned by the British Medical Association. Crucially, The BMJ has editorial freedom from the BMA: the association owns the company but does not control editorial decisions. This arrangement - a trade-union-owned journal with a charter of editorial independence - is unusual in medical publishing and has allowed The BMJ to publish journalism critical of governments, the pharmaceutical industry and even the medical establishment itself.

The BMJ Group has grown beyond the flagship journal into a portfolio of specialist journals, clinical decision-support tools such as BMJ Best Practice, and medical education products, making it one of the largest medical publishers in the world.

Editorial Leadership

The current editor-in-chief of The BMJ is Kamran Abbasi, who was appointed in January 2022. Abbasi, a physician and journalist, had previously served as the journal's executive editor and has written widely on research integrity, conflicts of interest and the politics of health.

His predecessor was Fiona Godlee, appointed in February 2005 as the journal's first female editor-in-chief. Godlee's long tenure modernised the journal's digital presence and reinforced its campaigning identity, including high-profile investigations into issues such as the safety of medical devices and the transparency of clinical trial data. Earlier editors shaped the journal through the 20th century's great medical transformations, from the antibiotic era to the rise of evidence-based medicine.

Publishing Model and Peer Review

The BMJ operates an open peer review system, in which authors are told who reviewed their manuscript - a policy designed to make review more accountable and constructive. About half of original articles are rejected after in-house review, and the acceptance rate is less than 7 percent for original research articles. Manuscripts chosen for peer review are refereed by external experts before a final decision is made by the editorial "hanging" committee.

Decisions on manuscripts sent for external review are usually reached within eight weeks; manuscripts not sent for external review receive decisions within about two weeks. The journal's research articles are published open access under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial licence, while other content follows subscription models. Submission is handled through an online manuscript processing system, and the journal was an early adopter of digital-first workflows in medical publishing.

Content and Campaigning Journalism

The BMJ publishes original research, systematic reviews, editorials, analysis, clinical reviews, practice articles, news and views. But it is perhaps best known for its investigative and campaigning journalism: long-running campaigns on research transparency (including the AllTrials campaign for the registration and reporting of all clinical trials), on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry, on patient safety, and on the misuse of the impact factor by academic institutions in awarding grants and recruiting researchers.

This campaigning streak has occasionally put the journal at odds with powerful interests, but it has also won it a reputation for independence that distinguishes it from journals more closely tied to professional societies or commercial publishers. Its Christmas issue - a long-standing tradition of light-hearted but methodologically serious research papers - is one of the most beloved institutions in medical publishing.

Impact and Readership

The BMJ is considered one of the "core" general medical journals, alongside the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and The Lancet; some authorities also include the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Annals of Internal Medicine in this category. Its impact factor of 55.1 (2025) reflects its extraordinary citation reach.

The journals that most often cite The BMJ include The BMJ itself, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, The Lancet, BMC Public Health and BMC Health Services Research; the journals most often cited by BMJ articles are The BMJ, The Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and the Cochrane Database. The journal is indexed in PubMed, MEDLINE, EBSCO and the Science Citation Index, and bmj.com reaches millions of readers each month.

Digital Presence and Products

The journal appears fortnightly in print and daily online at bmj.com, where research articles are freely available. The BMJ Group's digital portfolio includes dozens of specialty journals - from BMJ Open to journals in surgery, neurology, cardiology and global health - as well as BMJ Learning, an online education platform for doctors, and BMJ Best Practice, a clinical decision-support tool used at the point of care in hospitals around the world.

The group also runs conferences and awards, including the BMJ Awards celebrating excellence in healthcare, extending the brand from publishing into professional recognition and events.

Editions and International Reach

Although rooted in Britain, The BMJ is an international journal: its authors, reviewers and readers span every continent, and its journalism covers health policy and clinical developments worldwide. The journal has produced regional editions and partnerships over the years and its content is syndicated and republished internationally, reflecting the global nature of modern medical research.

Official Website

The official website of The BMJ is bmj.com, where readers can access the latest research, news, editorials and clinical content, and find guidance for authors and reviewers.