Journal Review of the MJM [MJM 1996 2: 72]

Journal Review of the MJM

Dear MJM:

I don't recall ever seeing a more professional-looking student-produced medical journal. I was equally impressed by the quality of the contents and by the rigorous editorial policies you have established.

I would like to bring to your attention a review of the MJM in the October 1996 issue of the Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada [Annals RCPSC 29(7):424-5]. The review appears below:

MJM (McGill Journal of Medicine), An international forum for the advancement of medical science by
students, Volume 1, Numbers 1 & 2, Spring and Fall/Winter 1995, Volume 2 Number 1, Spring 1996.

This splendidly produced journal, Perfect bound with glossy red covers and printed on heavy stock glossy paper, ran to 180 pages plus end matter in its first year and seems set to be about the same size in 1996. Its editorial board and staff in its first year were almost all students in the classes of 1997 and 1998; this year they have been replenished with students from the class of 1999. The Faculty Advisor is Dr. Phil Gold. It has a rigorous editorial policy that includes formal peer review, and sets out the requirements for authors in a professional manner that some journals run by experienced physicians could adopt with benefit. Almost all the contributing authors are students, from far afield in Canada and elsewhere, as well as from McGill. They mostly write with real professionalism. Their articles cover a wide range, including scholarly clinical and basic science papers, case reports, review articles, epidemiological surveys, clinicopathological reports and medico-legal papers. Some articles, for instance very interesting reports on aspects of community health in Ethiopia and Brazil, are illustrated in colour. No expense has been spared, yet the journal carries very little advertising so it must be extremely well subsidized financially. It is entirely in English.

As one of my former-student friends once remarked, the only problem with medical students is that we self-destruct, or as another former-student friend put it, we have a very sharply defined "Use by..." date. I hope the editorial staff can ensure continuity because this journal deserves to survive. As for self-destructing, editors like me who are approaching or have entered their dotage can take comfort from this demonstration that able and talented future recruits to the editorial craft are ready and waiting.

John Last

All of you who have worked on this deserve high praise for your efforts.

John Last, M.D., F.R.C.P.(C), F.R.A.C.P.
Editor, Annals RCPSC

John Last, M.D., is Editor of the Annals of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada..