Dr Isdale and Dr Helliwell assume that most readers of the BMJ are in
the UK, but they are wrong.
The weekly BMJ has a circulation of 115 000, about 100 000 of which
circulate in Britain. Most of the British copies go to individual doctors,
and many, but by no means all, are read by only one person. We might thus
have perhaps 175 000 readers of the paper edition in Britain. The paper
copies going overseas go predominantly to libraries, and each copy is read
on average by perhaps 10 people, giving a total of 150 000 readers.
Then we have 20 local editions of the BMJ in different countries.
These reach about 250 000 doctors, and many are read by more than one
doctor--particularly those circulating in countries where doctors are
thirsty for information rather than drowned by it. Let's conservatively
call that 500 000 readers.
Then there are about 120 000 people accessing the BMJ website each
week. About a third of these are in Britain, giving another 40 000 for
Britain.
That gives a total of 945 000 readers, with 215 000 in Britain and
730 000 elsewhere.
The single biggest group are, however, in Britain, and we do pay more
attention to Britain than any other country--and that's what our readers,
even our overseas readers, want. When we asked readers, they said that
they wanted us to be international but to pay special attention to
Britain. That's what we do, but with so many readers outside Britain it
doesn't seem unreasonable to mention a drug that is available elsewhere
but not in Britain.
Rapid Response:
Most BMJ readers are not in the UK
Dr Isdale and Dr Helliwell assume that most readers of the BMJ are in
the UK, but they are wrong.
The weekly BMJ has a circulation of 115 000, about 100 000 of which
circulate in Britain. Most of the British copies go to individual doctors,
and many, but by no means all, are read by only one person. We might thus
have perhaps 175 000 readers of the paper edition in Britain. The paper
copies going overseas go predominantly to libraries, and each copy is read
on average by perhaps 10 people, giving a total of 150 000 readers.
Then we have 20 local editions of the BMJ in different countries.
These reach about 250 000 doctors, and many are read by more than one
doctor--particularly those circulating in countries where doctors are
thirsty for information rather than drowned by it. Let's conservatively
call that 500 000 readers.
Then there are about 120 000 people accessing the BMJ website each
week. About a third of these are in Britain, giving another 40 000 for
Britain.
That gives a total of 945 000 readers, with 215 000 in Britain and
730 000 elsewhere.
The single biggest group are, however, in Britain, and we do pay more
attention to Britain than any other country--and that's what our readers,
even our overseas readers, want. When we asked readers, they said that
they wanted us to be international but to pay special attention to
Britain. That's what we do, but with so many readers outside Britain it
doesn't seem unreasonable to mention a drug that is available elsewhere
but not in Britain.
Richard Smith
Editor
BMJ
Competing interests: No competing interests