Journal of the American Medical Association

Infobox Journal
title = JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association


discipline = peer-reviewed medical journal
abbreviation = JAMA
publisher = American Medical Association
country = USA
history = founded 1883
website = http://jama.ama-assn.org/
ISSN = 0098-7484

"JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association" is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association. "JAMA" is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world. [http://jama.ama-assn.org/misc/aboutjama.dtl Journal of the American Medical Association website] ]

Founded in 1883 by the American Medical Association and published continuously since then, "JAMA" publishes original research, reviews, commentaries, editorials, essays, medical news, correspondence, and ancillary content (such as abstracts of the "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report"). In 2005, "JAMA"s impact factor was 23.5 placing it among the leading general medical journals. [ [http://www.epidemiologic.org/2006/10/journal-impact-factors-for-2005.html Journal Impact Factors] ] "JAMA"s acceptance rate is approximately 8% of the nearly 6000 solicited and unsolicited manuscripts it receives annually. The first editor was Nathan Smith Davis, the founder of the American Medical Association and present editor of JAMA is Catherine DeAngelis. JAMA's peer review process relies on some 3500 reviewers from over 40 countries.Fontanarosa PB, DeAngelis CD. Thank You to JAMA Peer Reviewers and Authors. "JAMA". 2007;297:875.]

The contents of articles in "JAMA" should be attributed to authors, rather than to the American Medical Association: "AMA disclaims any liability to any party for the accuracy, completeness or availability of the material or for any damages arising out of the use or non-use of any of the material and any information contained therein." [ [http://pubs.ama-assn.org/misc/conditions.dtl JAMA & Archives Conditions of Use] ]

Editorial independence

In 1999, the AMA's recently-appointed executive director, E. Ratcliffe Anderson, fired George Lundberg, editor of JAMA. Lundberg was fired for publishing a survey of college students' attitudes about sex, by June Reinisch and Stephanie Sanders, of the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research. Based on a 1991 survey of 599 students at a major midwestern state university, the paper reports that 60% (originally recorded as 59% in the results- the article indicates as an erratum by the copy editor) of the group did not regard oral-genital contact as having "had sex." [ [http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/1999/115/2 Constance Holden, JAMA Editor Gets the Boot, Science Now, 15 January 1999] ] Anderson was later fired himself as a result of other unrelated disputes with the AMA board. Lundberg joined Medscape as editor in chief exactly one month after his dismissal from the AMA.

Editorials denouncing Lundberg's dismissal as a violation of editorial independence appeared promptly in many medical journals including the "CMAJ", "The Lancet", "BMJ", and "MJA". [Jerome P. Kassirer (1999) [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/340/21/1671 Editorial Independence] , "NEJM", 340(21):1671-1672]

In the wake of the Lundberg dismissal the American Medical Association working together with the "JAMA" Editor Search Committee, a distinguished group of physicians and scientists, established a new process to arrive at the best governance alternatives for the "Journal of the American Medical Association" and the Archives Journals. The group developed a governance plan that was designed to insure editorial freedom and independence for "JAMA", the Archives Journals, and their Editors-in-Chief. The primary recommendation arising from the search committee and documented in the governance plan was the recommendation to create a Journal Oversight Committee, which is made up of seven members, whose function is to evaluate the Editor-in-Chief and to help ensure editorial independence. To date the committee has met at least once a year since its inception. [Editorial governance plan: Signatories of the Editorial Governance Plan, Editorial Governance for JAMA, June 1999; 281: 2240 - 2242. [http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/281/23/2240?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=JOC&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT] ]

Foreign editions

JAMA has been published in over 20 languages. JAMA-français is the first edition to be published on line, and will have weekly selected articles from the English JAMA.Fact|date=November 2007

Other leading medical journals

* Annals of Internal Medicine
* Archives of Internal Medicine
* British Medical Journal
* Canadian Medical Association Journal
* Nature Medicine
* New England Journal of Medicine
* The Lancet
* The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics

References

External links

* [http://jama.ama-assn.org/ AMA - American Medical Association]
* [http://pubs.ama-assn.org/ AMA - American Medical Association Archives]
* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=%22+JAMA%22%5BJournal%5D National Institutes of Health]