The BMJ is published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association.

The BMA grants editorial freedom to the Editor of the BMJ. The views expressed in the journal are those of the authors and may not necessarily comply with BMJ policy. The BMJ follows guidelines on editorial independence produced by the World Association of Medical Editors (www.wame.org/wamestmt.htm#independence) and the code on good publication practice produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics (www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines/).

Vision
To be the world's most influential and widely read medical journal.

Mission
To lead the debate on health, and to engage, inform, and stimulate doctors, researchers and other health professionals in ways that will improve outcomes for patients.

To achieve these aims we publish original scientific studies, review and educational articles, and papers commenting on the clinical, scientific, social, political, and economic factors affecting health.

We are delighted to receive articles for publication in all of these categories - from doctors and others. Our readership is mainly doctors, medical students, academic researchers, other healthcare professionals, and policy makers.

The print BMJ has been published continuously since 1840, and now appears in four weekly editions, varying only in their advertising content. Together, their circulation totals about 122 000 copies, of which 10 000 are distributed outside Britain. In addition, international editions reach another 55 000 readers.

The BMJ's website was launched in 1995 and includes the full text of everything published in the print journal since 1994, as well as much material unique to the web. About 1.2 m unique users download 6.5 m pages each month (ABCe audit, October 2006).

FAQs

What is the journal's impact factor?

9.245 (ISI Web of Science, 2006)

What does BMJ stand for?

British Medical Journal. The name was changed in 1988 (vol 297).

When citing the BMJ please use either BMJ or BMJ (British Medical Journal).

Contact the BMJ

Legal Information

BMJ Group advertising policy

The BMJ follows guidelines on editorial independence produced by the World Association of Medical Editors (www.wame.org/wamestmt.htm#independence), the code on good publication practice produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics (www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines/), and the EQUATOR network resource centre (http://www.equator-network.org/for good research reporting.

EQUATOR network

COPE