Why submit your research to the BMJ?

If you're more used to rejection than acceptance letters, you may not believe it when editors say that medical research is becoming a sellers' market. But it's true, at least for investigators “selling” robust and interesting research studies. Medical journals—whether online or print, or both—are falling over themselves and each other to attract research articles, and are becoming bolder about approaching authors who have research articles to publish. Step by step, medical publishing is becoming as much a service industry for authors as an educational and academic service for readers.

What journals offer authors, however, isn't always obvious to researchers choosing a journal. Authors do not want to waste time by sending their research articles to the wrong journal, so the first thing they want to know is whether the editors will be interested in their work. Pure academic interest isn't enough for BMJ editors or most importantly for readers, who mainly comprise doctors—whether they're practising clinical medicine, working in public health, developing and implementing health policy, or working mostly as researchers. We aim to provide our readers with articles that will help them to make better decisions.

The BMJ is definitely the right journal for studies on the day to day decisions doctors make with their patients. These studies may be randomised controlled trials of treatments and other clinical interventions for patients with common diseases, studies on diagnostic tests, basic clinical observational studies,1 qualitative studies that help to explain why and how doctors and patients do things, and systematic reviews of all of these study types. The doctors we aim to reach with these articles work in many different settings and countries; most are specialists in hospitals, community units, and clinics or …