N E W SJ A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

The BMJ rises to 4th place in global rankings of most cited general medical journals

And registers largest increase in citations of any top 10 title in this category

The BMJ (formerly the

British Medical Journal) has

risen from sixth to fourth

place in the international

rankings of the most

influential general medical

journals in the world.

The BMJ has now overtaken

two heavyweight US titles,

PLos Medicine and the

Annals of Internal Medicine.

Only the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and

the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

now rank above The BMJ.

For The BMJ in particular, this increase to 4th in the general

medicine rankings—as a result of greatly increased

citations—is a validation of the work that the flagship

journal been doing in recent years to increase the

relevance of its content to healthcare practitioners around

the world. Almost a quarter of articles published in The BMJ have a US lead author, and it is hoped that even more US

authors will now submit their best work to The BMJ.

BMJ appointed as sales partner for RCN Publishing Company nursing titles

RCN Publishing, part of the Royal College of Nursing

group, has just announced it has appointed BMJ as its sales

partner for institutional customers outside of the UK. The

agreement covers all 10 RCN Publishing owned titles and

includes its flagship journal, Nursing Standard.

This appointment strengthens RCN Publishing’s global

reach and customer support network. BMJ is now

responsible for selling the following RCN Publishing

journals to institutions outside of the UK.

Commenting on the new development, Rhonda Oliver,

Managing Director of RCNP said: “We are very excited about

this development. BMJ have an excellent track record in

providing access to professional content in the institutional

sector worldwide. We cannot think of a better partner to be

working with to help our journals reach a broader, global

audience.”

BMJ NEWS 1

Did you know that...?

We pride ourselves on having possibly the fastest publication times in medical publishing. Our average time from acceptance to online publication in 2013 was just 15 days. We expect this time to fall further this year.

The BMJ rises to 4th placeBMJ appointed as sales partner for RCNPPage 1

The Tamiflu sagaPage 2

This year’s The BMJ Awards Page 5

New appointment at BMJPage 6

Patient editor’s journey continues posthumously Page 3

BMJ’s diabetes qualifications case study Page 4

Duncan Jarvies, BMJ multimedia editor

Hidden clinical trial data are systematically undermining doctors’ abilities to prescribe treatment with confidence. A whole range of widely used drugs across all fields of medicine have been represented as safer and more effective than they are, endangering people’s lives and wasting public money.

The tangible problem of hidden data started for me

when I became involved with the attempt to find out the

truth about Tamiflu – the Roche produced drug that was

massively stockpiled to combat swine flu.

The BMJ was part of questioning the decision to buy all

those Tamiflu doses; In 2009 we published “Neuraminidase

inhibitors for preventing and treating influenza in healthy

adults: systematic review and meta-analysis” – carried

out by the Cochrane Collaboration, which highlighted the

problem of hidden data on the drugs Tamiflu and Relenza,

and the buying frenzy commenced.

The Cochrane reviewers had been contacted by a Japanese

paediatrician, Keiji Hayashi. In Japan they’re particularly

BMJ NEWS 2

THE TAMIFLU SAGA

worried about flu, and there has been increased scrutiny

on the drugs used to treat it, as they’ve been linked to

teenage psychiatric incidents. Hayashi had noticed that

the earlier Cochrane review had included data from the

“Kaiser” paper, a meta-analysis funded by Roche in which

only 10 Roche funded trials had been included. Roche

hadn’t released the data for external scrutiny.

Fair enough, the Cochrane collaborators thought, we’ll just

ask for their underlying data and plug that into our review.

Roche refused to release the data,The BMJ got involved in

highlighting the issue, and there began the Tamiflu saga.

It would take pages to write the ins and outs of that saga,

but you can read the full thing on http://www.bmj.com/

tamiflu.

Since then, Tamiflu has become a poster child for the

hidden data movement. The saga has lead to interest

both in the UK and European parliament, and also in the

US’s House of Congress. It influenced the decision of the

European drug regulator to release all the data they receive

from companies hoping to licence new drugs. Ultimately it

led to Roche capitulating and handing over all their data –

thousands of pages which are still being analysed.

It’s gratifying to see The BMJ at the heart of these changes,

and it’s part of the reason why I think it’s so important to

keep the value of being transparent and open creates trust,

evidence matters, and patients come first at the heart of

everything we do.

Patients come first.Our overriding commitment is to help healthcare professionals do the best for patients and the public. A respect for patient safety, confidentiality and individual patient choice underpins our culture, brand and behaviours.

Dr Nikki Curtis, Clinical Specialist

The BMJ’s late patient editor Peter Lapsley, in an article

highlighting the lessons emerging from the first 100 or so

articles, described the Patient Journeys

series when they were first introduced

in 2006 as being better “suited to the

colour supplements of the Sunday

papers than to The BMJ.”

Over time the articles became more

focused on what doctors could learn

from a patient’s journey, with the

introduction of a short piece written

by the patient’s treating doctor,

detailing what was learnt from the particular case.

Some remarkable tales have been told in the series: from

the patient who was diagnosed with Klinefelter’s syndrome

at the age of 14 but whose diagnosis was

lost for 46 years, to the woman who was

conscious but paralysed during a general

anaesthetic and who later befriended the

anaesthetist whom she initially felt had

violated her.

Lapsley, who became patient editor

in 2004, drew out the main lessons from

the series: patients’ antipathy towards

uncertain diagnoses; delays in diagnosis or

treatment or both; underused interventions and doctors’

lack of understanding of the social, physiological, and

psychological aspects of disease.

PATIENT EDITOR’S JOURNEY CONTINUES POSTHUMOUSLYAnne Gulland, London

Peter Michael Lapsley

(b 1943), patient editor, BMJ,

died from acute myeloid

leukaemia on 3 August 2013.

His work is currently being

produced into an ebook by

Best Health from BMJ.

BMJ NEWS 3

http://internationalforum.bmj.com/programme

Since becoming a GP, Dr Rob Hirst has set out to improve the quality and delivery of primary care services delivered to diabetic patients and to increase awareness within the profession of the personal and professional strain that living with diabetes puts on doctors with this chronic condition.

The Diploma offered Rob the opportunity to explore and expand his knowledge as well as the unique opportunity to share his “personal and professional experiences of being a type 1 diabetic and infl uence others on the course through online discussions”.

Rob found his knowledge and skills in dealing with diabetic patients rapidly improved thanks to the structured learning programme, which has the unique feature of providing exploration of topics relevant to learners and their area of work alongside online debate, research, and journal appraisal.

In turn, this has led to him being able to focus on delivering higher levels of primary care diabetes services and work with the local CCG to develop Intermediate diabetes services to reduce burden on secondary care.

Dr Robert Hirst, GP Partner, UK

As a partner of a busy GP practice, managing at least 18 staff and with 3 young children under the age of 5, Dr Rob Hirst tells us why he decided to sign up to the Diabetes Diploma.

Dr Robert Hirst, GP Partner, UK

As a partner of a busy GP practice, managing at least 18 staff and with 3 young children under the age of 5, Dr Rob Hirst tells us why he decided to sign up to the Diabetes Diploma.

Since becoming a GP, Dr Rob Hirst has set out to improve

the quality and delivery of primary care services delivered

to diabetic patients and to increase awareness within the

profession of the personal and professional strain that

living with diabetes puts on doctors with this chronic

condition.

The Diploma offered Rob the opportunity to explore and

expand his knowledge as well as the unique opportunity to

share his “personal and professional experiences of being a

type 1 diabetic and influence others on the course through

online discussions”.

Rob found his knowledge and skills in dealing with

diabetic patients rapidly improved thanks to the structured

learning programme, which has the unique feature of

providing exploration of topics relevant to learners and

their area of work alongside online debate, research, and

journal appraisal.

In turn, this has led to him being able to focus on delivering

higher levels of primary care diabetes services and work

with the local CCG to develop intermediate diabetes

services to reduce burden on secondary care.

Rob was lucky enough that his partnership offered to fund

his studies – they saw the benefits of the qualification

in providing an excellent skill set for GPs, as well as GP

registrars and primary care nurses.

The fact that the course was delivered online was

advantageous to Rob – enabling a wide range of debate

without the constraints of traditional lectures. The self-

direction required commitment and enthusiasm but the

“whole qualification can be done in your own timescale and

offers lots of flexibility, which is perfect for fitting around

both professional and family commitments”.

Rob hasn’t let having diabetes hold him back and has done

skydiving, hang gliding and rock climbing over the years!

Rob hopes to use his Diabetes Diploma to study for an

MSc and qualify for postgraduate lecturing, passing on his

personal and professional knowledge of diabetes to others.

Got a question for Rob?For further information visit: diabetesonline.bmj.com

Or contact us on: +44 (0) 207 874 7334

BMJ’s diabetes qualifications recently won a Silver Award at the prestigious E-Learning Awards 2013 for Best online distance learning programme.

“The programme increases overall knowledge of diabetes care, allows learners to understand the scope of diabetes and the importance of diabetes prevention and increases confidence and understanding of the range of new therapies available”

BMJ NEWS 4

The entries are coming in thick and fast now for this year’s BMJ Awards, celebrating the best of British medicine. Our premier awards programme for medically led teams in the UK will take place at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster, on 8 May.

We have a star-studded list of judges for 2014. More than

20 of the UK’s most eminent physicians, academics and

policy makers – among them Professor Parveen Kumar and

Dr Mike Berwick – will assess teams from across the UK for

13 categories, this year including Innovation in Healthcare.

This category attracts some of the most notable entries.

Last time, we were most impressed by the innovative way

in which the team from MIMER College in India adapted

polystyrene foam boxes that were used to transport

vaccines to act as a home incubator and a transport device

to keep newborn babies warm.

Now in their sixth year, The BMJ Awards are supported by

MDDUS and recognise excellence and innovation in the

delivery of care to patients. On the evening, more than 600

guests congregate in London to applaud the shortlisted

teams for categories ranging from primary care to surgery.

The winners and shortlisted teams receive extensive

coverage in The BMJ and more widely in the UK media.

The awards are supported by a number of sponsors who

share The BMJ’s passion for celebrating instances of

everyday medical excellence.

BMJ NEWS 5

Click here to find out about the sponsorship opportunities still available.

BMJ has appointed a new Head of Patient Safety in order to implement a clinical safety management system across all of its portfolio of products and services.

Beverley Scott, who joined in January, was formerly Global

Clinical Safety Lead at CSC Global Healthcare (previously

ISOFT Health. She has previously worked for Connecting

for Health and for the Information Standards Board, and is a

Registered Nurse.

Beverley’s role will be to ensure that clinical safety is

designed into the creation and delivery of all BMJ products,

meeting national and international standards where these

are mandated, and to be the main lead on all issues relating

to clinical and patient safety within the organisation.

NEW APPOINTMENT: BEVERLEY SCOTT, HEAD OF PATIENT SAFETY

BMJ NEWS 6

What’s your background?

I am a GP but also Head of Clinical

Engagement at BMJ. I stopped

practising full time about 7

years ago to work on developing

computer systems for doctors. My

interests lie in intelligent systems

which help doctors diagnose and treat patients more safely

and effectively. A good example is BMJ Informatica’s Audit+

product which guides doctor’s decision whilst they are in

a consultation.

Why did you leave medicine?

Well, I haven’t actually; I still work as a GP, mainly over the

summer. The rest of the time I still feel that I am working

as a doctor. I think it is a bit like a pilot spending their time

trying to make better aeroplanes rather than flying them.

The tools and knowledge that doctors have available to

them is really important if we are going to change the care

that patients receive. Although my mother still asks me

every Christmas why I am not a proper doctor anymore...

In the last 10 years, how has healthcare changed?

Of course there have been some new treatments and

better investigations but, to be honest, in the UK the

delivery of care hasn’t changed much at all, certainly not as

much as it needs to. Most people’s experience of hospital

or GP care is the same as it was 20 years ago. The recent

fiveminutes with

public sector financial problems will probably force a

change. There are many health regions which are trying to

integrate care between GPs, hospitals and even social care.

This will result in a more joined up experience for patients.

How do you work with customers with these issues?

The most important thing we do is really understand

what they are trying to achieve and how we can help

them to get there. They may want to be trying to improve

the performance of their clinicians or be more efficient;

almost all of them want to improve the quality of care for

patients with less money. We can help them in all sorts of

ways but working with them to understand what fits their

organisation is so important. We can then work with them

to implement the tools and resources so that they really do

make the change they were hoping for.

So what about the rest of the world?

Every health system is different, both in terms of resources

and maturity. Having said that, I am struck by the

similarities more often than I am by the differences. The

diseases, treatments and challenges are universal in so

many ways. I recently visited a clinic in Beijing which looked

identical to any GP surgery you would see in the UK. They

are trying to see more patients in the community and send

less patients to hospital as well as preventing people from

developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and

diabetes. What we do at BMJ has real relevance across

the world.

How can people find out more?

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to know

more about our clinical engagement work. You can see

more here or email me directly at ajones@bmj.com.

Dr Andrew Jones, Head of Clinical Engagement, BMJ