BMJ  2004;329 (6 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7474.0-g

Editor's choice

Should journals mix medicine and politics?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Along with easy access to pornography, gambling (p 1055), and school friends who best remain forgotten, the internet has unleashed instant—and mass—complaint. This incredible people power makes publications instantly accountable. Why bother sending a written complaint or organising a paper petition when you can flood a website or an editor's inbox with cries of pain, anger, and sometimes vitriol? In addition to this welcome development bmj.com amplifies that criticism by posting electronic letters—we call them rapid responses—within 24 hours, provided they do not breach our rather laissez-faire rules of engagement (see bmj.com for rules).

We now encourage all readers to submit their letters electronically via our rapid response facility—it's easier than you might think—and select the best of these to publish in the print version of the BMJ. This week we publish a selection of responses to Derek Summerfield's personal view on the public health effects of . . . [Full text of this article]

Kamran Abbasi, acting editor

(kabbasi@bmj.com)


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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Government Policies almost always affect the health of the Nation-positively or negatively!
Dr.Wayengera Misaki
bmj.com, 4 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Medicine and politic should be separated
Yair Liel
bmj.com, 5 Nov 2004 [Full text]
"Medicine on a grand scale"
Graham Ellis
bmj.com, 5 Nov 2004 [Full text]
By all means mix but don't confuse
Keith Kudkins
bmj.com, 5 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Stimulating debate or stirring up ill-feeling?
Ayan Panja
bmj.com, 5 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Re: By all means mix but don't confuse
Bert P. van Leeuwen
bmj.com, 6 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Striking a balance
Sharif S Hussain
bmj.com, 6 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Pandora's e-box
Adrian S. Blaj
bmj.com, 6 Nov 2004 [Full text]
To be or not to be...political --- that's the question
Adrian S. Blaj
bmj.com, 7 Nov 2004 [Full text]
BMJ Politics
Phil Taussky
bmj.com, 8 Nov 2004 [Full text]
A more constructive approach to writing about health and conflict
Bruce E Laurence
bmj.com, 8 Nov 2004 [Full text]
politics is medicine writ large
Hyman Davies
bmj.com, 8 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Health and politics are now closely twined?
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bmj.com, 8 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Waste of an entire BMJ issue
Abhijit Bal
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Open letter to Dr Abbasi
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Gabrielle J. Halpern
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Re: politics is medicine writ large
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Re: Re: politics is medicine writ large
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Re: Re: Re: politics is medicine writ large
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Re: Re: politics is medicine writ large
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