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Our story

Our story

BMJ is a global healthcare knowledge provider with a vision for a healthier world. We share knowledge and expertise to improve healthcare outcomes.

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1840

The Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal established.

The same year Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp launched. The journal was sent to all members of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, the forerunner of our owner, the British Medical Association (BMA).

BMJ started out 180 years ago as a medical journal, publishing articles on stillborn children, amputation at the shoulder and the climate of the Isle of Wight.

Now, as a values-driven company and global brand, we work toward our vision for 'a healthier world.' We do this by partnering with more than 11,000 medical organisations worldwide so they can provide their users with the best available resources. We make our content available in 20 languages, and create evidence-based subscription-based products to help clinicians better tackle today’s most critical healthcare challenges. It is inspiring to see the rapid growth of students and qualified doctors around the globe progressing their careers and achieving accreditation with our e-learning modules and events.

Our expertise extends from publishing and medical education to clinical decision support and events to enhance day to day decision-making and healthcare delivery.  Whilst our focus remains unchanged, we continuously adapt to the changing research landscape by remaining innovative and competitive.

 

BMJ Impact Report 2023

BMJ is a global healthcare knowledge provider with a vision for a healthier world. We share knowledge and expertise to improve healthcare outcomes.

We publish 65 medical and allied science journalsNearly half of our indexed journals rank within the top 10 of their category.


We are well renowned for publishing The BMJ (mostly referred to as the British Medical Journal).  A world leader, The BMJ is ranked fourth out of all 167 Medicine, General & Internal journals, with an impact factor of 105.7  and a 15.3 CiteScore. (Impact Factors are used to measure the importance of a journal by calculating the number of times selected articles are cited within the last few years. The higher the impact factor, the more highly ranked the journal. It is one tool you can use to compare journals in a subject category.) 


However, the impact of academic research cannot be defined by any single metric. As a DORA signatory, BMJ believes that the journal impact factor (JIF) is best shared alongside other metrics that can help an author decide where to publish.  These include Citescore, Total Altmetric mentions, and time to first decision amongst others. They are made available on our journal sites and demonstrate how BMJ is meeting researchers’ needs for timely publication, reach and influence.


The foundation of our work is research, and we work tirelessly to improve research integrity and dissemination. We do this by ensuring rapid access to the best evidence and increased involvement and access for patients.


We also actively promote ethical conduct among scientists around the world and encourage researchers and institutions to share their research or raise concerns.


Within the past 50 years, we have also pioneered the migration to digital publishing and the development of open accessWe also stretch our thinking by engaging with experts to explore different ways in which the future may unfold.


During 2020, the majority of our journals migrated to ‘Transformative Journal’ status. This means that they are committed to the goal of transitioning the research they publish gradually to open access. 

Evidence underpins everything we do – it’s what makes us one of the world’s most trusted knowledge providers. And the figures speak for themselves. More than 120 million users from over 150 countries access our websites every year.

Beyond publishing, our offering continues to expand toward medical education, events and the most reliable support at the point of care, BMJ Best Practice

Our clinical decision tool has been proven in independent comparisons to deliver faster answers to diagnostic clinical questions.  Its guidelines have international coverage and can be localised to individual institutions. It has since become available as a multi-award winning app with a Google rating of 4.8.

We also work to improve research standards, acceptance rates and outputs across institutions, organisations and countries. Our own technology platform conforms to industry standards and underpins these product websites and mobile delivery.

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We are broadening and deepening our long-standing relationships with large healthcare organisations, clinicians, global health and government bodies worldwide. We are actively engaging with organisations who want to collaborate with us to transform health outcomes. Once an international client base has been established, the possibility of cross-country knowledge sharing and data comparisons also start to emerge.

As a result, we now have offices in China, India and the US, where we are rapidly increasing our headcount. These offices are reflective of the services we provide in the UK, but customised to fit the needs of local healthcare systems. Our reliable, responsive and flexible ways of working collaboratively with customers translate to better healthcare outcomes and understandings of specific issues.

More locally, we do what we can to support the UK National Health System (NHS) by investing in a digital solution that helps hospitals better manage demand for NHS locum staff.  

More than ever, we are in a strong position to help potential partners by providing a wide range of resources from advertising real estate and public relations, content, product solutions, clinical support, events and engagement, mentoring, technology and commercial expertise and guidance. 

 
“As the rise in chronic diseases, climate change and ageing populations burden healthcare systems, we continue to develop the necessary tools to support the overwhelming demands on multidisciplinary care.”

With five offices located in the UK, China, India and North America, we have the international reach to help create a healthier world.