The New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. History. In September 1811, John Collins Warren, a Boston physician, along with James Jackson, submitted a formal prospectus to establish the "New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and Collateral Branches of Science" as a medical and philosophical journal. Subsequently, the first issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical  Science" was published in January 1812. The journal was published quarterly. In 1823, another publication, the "Boston Medical Intelligencer", appeared under the editorship of Jerome V. C. Smith. The editors of the "New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and the Collateral Branches of Medical Science" purchased the weekly "Intelligencer" for $600 in 1828, merging the two publications to form the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal", and shifting from quarterly to weekly publication. In 1921, the Massachusetts Medical Society purchased the "Journal" for US$1 () and, in 1928, renamed it to "The New England Journal of Medicine". Logo. The  journal's logo depicts the snake-wrapped Rod of Asclepius crossed over a quill pen. The dates on the logo represent the founding of the components of "The New England Journal of Medicine": 1812 for the "New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery and Collateral Branches of Medical Science", 1823 for the "Boston Medical Intelligencer", 1828 for the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal", and 1928 for the "New England Journal of Medicine". Notable articles. Notable articles from the course of "The New England Journal of Medicine" history include: Social media. On April 25, 1996, the "NEJM" announced a new web  site, which published each week the abstracts for research articles and the full text of editorials, cases, and letters to the editor. After print publishing for 184 years this was the "NEJM"s first use of the Internet for electronic publication. The site was launched several months earlier in 1996, but the editors wanted proof that weekly electronic publication would work. Only then was an announcement approved for publication on the editorial page. In 1997, the website included prepublication releases of certain articles prior to their print publication. In 1998, online publication extended to include the full text of all its  articles from 1993 forward. Since its launch, "NEJM" has added to its site: Influence. The George Polk Awards site noted that its 1977 award to "The New England Journal of Medicine": "...provided the first significant mainstream visibility for a publication that would achieve enormous attention and prestige in the ensuing decades." The journal usually has the highest impact factor of the journals of internal medicine. According to the Journal Citation Reports, "NEJM" had a 2017 impact factor of 79.258, ranking it first of 153 journals in the category "General & Internal Medicine". It was the only journal in the category with  an impact factor of more than 70. By comparison, the second and third ranked journals in the category ("The Lancet" and "JAMA") had impact factors of 53.254 and 47.661 respectively. Theodore Dalrymple feels that this influence is unwarranted. In "False Positive: A Year of Error, Omission, and Political Correctness in the New England Journal of Medicine", he examines various articles on medical and social issues that the "NEJM" published over the course of a year. He found that many arrived at conclusions which were not supported by the evidence presented, or ignored easily available evidence that contradicted their conclusions. Specialty  journals. Unlike other major medical journals like "The Lancet" and JAMA, NEJM didn't have specialty sub-journal. However, in 2022, NEJM set up a new sub-journal, NEJM Evidence. Ingelfinger rule. "The New England Journal of Medicine" requires that articles it publishes have not been published or released elsewhere. Referred to as the Ingelfinger rule, the policy is intended to protect newsworthiness, and to subject research to peer review "before it is touted to the public or the profession". By 1991, four types of exceptions were recognized, including when "prepublication release of research conclusions is warranted because of immediate  implications for the public health". The rule was first described in a 1969 editorial, "Definition of Sole Contribution", by Franz Ingelfinger, the editor-in-chief at that time. A number of medical journals have similar rules in place. Vioxx correction controversy. In the early 2000s, "The New England Journal of Medicine" was involved in a controversy around problems with research on the drug Vioxx. A study was published in the journal in November 2000 which noted an increase in myocardial infarction amongst those taking Vioxx. According to Richard Smith, the former editor of the "British Medical Journal", concerns about the  correctness of that study were raised with the journal's editor, Jeff Drazen, as early as August 2001. That year, both the US Food and Drug Administration and the "Journal of the American Medical Association" also cast doubt on the validity of the data interpretation that had been published in the "NEJM". Merck withdrew the drug from market in September 2004. In December 2005, "NEJM" published an expression of concern about the original study following discovery that the authors knew more about certain adverse events than they disclosed at the time of publication. From the Expression of Concern: "Until the  end of November 2005, we believed that these were late events that were not known to the authors in time to be included in the article published in the Journal on November 23, 2000. It now appears, however, from a memorandum dated July 5, 2000, that was obtained by subpoena in the Vioxx litigation and made available to the Journal, that at least two of the authors knew about the three additional myocardial infarctions at least two weeks before the authors submitted the first of two revisions and 4 1/2 months before publication of the article." During the five-year  period between publication and Expression of Concern, it has been estimated that Merck paid "NEJM" as much as US$836,000 for article reprints that Merck used for promotional purposes. The journal was publicly rebuked for its response to the research issues in editorials appearing in publications including the "British Medical Journal" and the "Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine". Open access policy. "NEJM" provides delayed free online access to its research articles (it does so six months after publication, and maintains that access dating back to 1990). This delay does not apply to readers from the least developed countries , for whom the content is available at no charge for personal use. "NEJM" also has two podcast features, one with interviews of doctors and researchers that are publishing in the journal, and another summarizing the content of each issue. Other offerings include Continuing Medical Education, Videos in Clinical Medicine (showing videos of medical procedures), and the weekly Image Challenge.