Setting limits to infinite error

doi:10.1136/bmj.a1823

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Tony Delamothe, deputy editor, BMJ

tdelamothe{at}bmj.com

If the journal were to print an epigram over each of its sections then for Letters I’d plump for Bertolt Brecht’s description of the purpose of science. “The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error,” said the protagonist in his Life of Galileo. Setting a limit to infinite error just about sums up what Letters are for.

All BMJ letters begin their lives as (online) rapid responses to articles, and in a generous week we select about 10% of these to publish as letters in the print journal. Our main criterion for selection …