BMJ Publishing Group to launch an international campaign to promote academic medicine

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7422.1001

BMJ 2003;327:1001-1002 (1 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7422.1001

Editorial

BMJ Publishing Group to launch an international campaign to promote academic medicine

Please join us

Academic medicine is in crisis across the world.¹^-⁴ Medicine'scapacity to research, think, and teach is collapsing just atthe time when science, social trends, and globalisation areoffering great opportunities—and threats. The BMJ PublishingGroup wants to help revitalise—and reinvent—academicmedicine. How can academic medicine best prepare for the 21stcentury? We don't have an answer, but we propose a great debate.

We are not even entirely clear on the diagnosis. Why is academicmedicine failing? The increasing pressure to provide serviceis one cause. Faced with healthcare reforms and government retrenchment,clinical research programmes and funding have withered. Lackof financial incentives and increasing disillusionment aboutthe prospects of a career in academic medicine have hamperedefforts to recruit and retain faculty. Financial pressure onuniversities means that the brightest and most imaginative scholarscome second to the scientists who bring in large sums from industry.Lack of rewards for good teachers poses a serious threat tofuture medical education and research.

Collective action is needed, and the BMJ Publishing Group iskeen to be a catalyst. Our board has given us £50 000to start the process. We want to partner with individuals andorganisations to create dialogue and debate about the best strategiesto revitalise academic medicine. It seems clear that more ofthe same will not be enough for academic medicine.1-5 It needsto change, and we should probably talk of academic health carenot academic medicine. The campaign, international and collaborativein spirit, will, we hope, encourage more resources to flow intoacademic health care and promote reinvestment in scientificand teaching excellence.

The BMJ Publishing Group is in a good position to spark thecampaign. We, like other publishers, depend on what academicmedicine produces. Academic health professionals constitutea core readership. It's in our best interest to raise the profileof academic medicine both within the profession and internationally.

But we cannot possibly do this alone. We are busy forming links,but we need a leader, an international advisory board, and helpfrom as many institutions, academics, and other journals aspossible. Funding for the campaign may come from a range ofprivate and public organisations including pharmaceutical companiesthemselves beneficiaries of academic medicine.

Please send us your suggestions and nominations for the leaderof this international campaign to promote medicine.

Jocalyn Clark, assistant editor, and project manager of the campaign

BMJ (jclark{at}bmj.com)

Richard Smith, editor

BMJ (rsmith{at}bmj.com)

Education and debate p 1041

Competing interest: Both authors are employees of the BMJ PublishingGroup. The group expects to spend money on this campaign notto make money, but the group would hope to benefit from a successfulcampaign.

References

The Academy of Medical Sciences. Resuscitating clinical research in the United Kingdom. BMJ 2003;327: 1041-3.[Free Full Text]
Stewart PM. Improving clinical research. BMJ 2003;327: 999-1000.[Free Full Text]
Bhutta Z. Practising just medicine in an unjust world. BMJ 2003;327: 1000-1.[Free Full Text]
Stewart PM. Academic medicine: a faltering engine. BMJ 2002;324: 437-8.[Free Full Text]
Goldbeck-Wood S. Reviving academic medicine in Britain. BMJ 2000; 320: 591-2.[Free Full Text]

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