Appleford, Joanne M

Aulakh, Mick

Cassady-Cain, Robin

Norton, Melissa L

Patel, Jigisha

English

Edinburgh Research Explorer

     Edinburgh Research Explorer                                      A vision of the future for BMC MedicineCitation for published version:Cassady-Cain, R, Appleford, JM, Patel, J, Aulakh, M & Norton, ML 2009, 'A vision of the future for BMCMedicine' BMC Medicine, vol 7, no. 55.Link:Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research ExplorerDocument Version:Publisher final version (usually the publisher pdf)Published In:BMC MedicinePublisher Rights Statement:© 2009 Cassady-Cain et al.General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s)and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise andabide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorercontent complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright pleasecontact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately andinvestigate your claim.Download date: 20. Feb. 2015BioMed CentralPage 1 of 2(page number not for citation purposes)BMC MedicineOpen AccessEditorialA vision of the future for BMC Medicine: serving science, medicine and authorsRobin L Cassady-Cain*, Joanne M Appleford, Jigisha Patel, Mick Aulakh and Melissa L NortonAddress: BMC Medicine Editorial team, BioMed Central Ltd, 236 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8HL, UKEmail: Robin L Cassady-Cain* - robin.cassady-cain@biomedcentral.com; Joanne M Appleford - jo.appleford@biomedcentral.com; Jigisha Patel - jigisha.patel@biomedcentral.com; Mick Aulakh - mick.aulakh@biomedcentral.com; Melissa L Norton - Melissa.Norton@biomedcentral.com* Corresponding author    AbstractIn June 2009, BMC Medicine received its first official impact factor of 3.28 from Thomson Reuters.In recognition of this landmark event, the BMC Medicine editorial team present and discuss thevision and aims of the journal.EditorialBMC Medicine recently celebrated its 5th anniversary ofpublishing high quality research with an editorial reflect-ing on our progress and on developments for the journalin 2009[1]. Now another highly anticipated milestonehas been achieved with the announcement of the jour-nal's first "official" impact factor of 3.28 by Thomson Reu-ters.While one can discuss the pros and cons of the impact fac-tor system, and others have done so tirelessly [[2-4] forexample], it cannot be denied that the receipt of an impactfactor is a major event in the life of a young journal. Assuch, this is an opportune moment to present our visionand aims for the future of BMC Medicine.In this era of translational medicine, clinicians mustunderstand the latest relevant information that may influ-ence the practice of medicine. Whether one is a practicingphysician, a clinical researcher, or a member of the laypublic, understanding how specific scientific research willaffect clinical practice may be difficult, especially whenthat research comes from an area outside of one's ownpersonal experience and expertise. We expect that BMCMedicine will play an increasingly important role in facili-tating the understanding of biomedical discovery and inappreciating the connection between these discoveriesand clinical practice. This understanding and appreciationwill guide future research in all fields of investigation thatimpact on the management of human disease.The journal will accomplish this through the publicationof high quality research, supported by interpretation ofthis work in accompanying reviews, minireviews andcommentaries to outline the wider implications andpotential future directions of the research. We are com-mitted to publishing high quality studies that fall into oneof three general categories: clinical investigations withclear and immediate ramifications for medical practice,clinical research that does not have immediate ramifica-tions for medical practice, but that will inform the direc-tion of future research, or basic biomedical work with astrong potential to influence clinical research.Published: 7 October 2009BMC Medicine 2009, 7:55 doi:10.1186/1741-7015-7-55Received: 21 September 2009Accepted: 7 October 2009This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/7/55© 2009 Cassady-Cain et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Publish with BioMed Central   and  every scientist can read your work free of charge"BioMed Central will be the most significant development for disseminating the results of biomedical research in our lifetime."Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UKYour research papers will be:available free of charge to the entire biomedical communitypeer reviewed and published immediately upon acceptancecited in PubMed and archived on PubMed Central yours — you keep the copyrightSubmit your manuscript here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/publishing_adv.aspBioMedcentralBMC Medicine 2009, 7:55 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/7/55Page 2 of 2(page number not for citation purposes)We see a need for increased collaboration between basicand clinical researchers, and we believe that BMC Medicinecan facilitate this process. In order to achieve this, we willpublish our basic biomedical research articles withaccompanying pieces highlighting the importance of thisresearch to a wider audience and outlining how theresearch might inform clinical research or practice in thefuture. An example of this is the commentary by RejkoKruger[5], which explains how the results of JeanneLatourelle and colleagues' research on genetic mutationsin Parkinson's Disease (PD) [6] increase our understand-ing of gene penetrance in PD and comments on howthose results relate to current ideas about genetic coun-seling for PD.Further, the addition of reviews and minireviews summa-rising important developments in current key fields willincrease the accessibility of research and educate non-experts regarding how current research affects clinicalpractice or disease management, For example, the recentreview by Brian Coburn and colleagues discusses the useof mathematical modeling to predict the disease course ofswine flu as well as outlining the important parameters forpandemic preparedness[7].No vision of the future of BMC Medicine can be completewithout considering our authors. As editors, our service toBMC Medicine's authors is as important as our service tothe medical community. Therefore we will continue touphold the three principles recently expounded by Raffand colleagues [8]: that the peer review process should befast, friendly and fair.Research needs to be published in such a way as to ensurethat the importance, timeliness and potential of the find-ings are clear to the entire medical community. The edi-tors of BMC Medicine are committed to the rapiddissemination of research throughout both the biomedi-cal and clinical communities worldwide, while continu-ing to provide an excellent and efficient service to ourauthors. We look forward to working with you, and foryou, in the times to come.References1. Appleford JM, Cassady-Cain RL, Patel J, Norton ML: BMC Medicinecelebrates its 5th anniversary.  BMC Medicine 2009, 7:3.2. Garfield E: The history and meaning of the journal impact fac-tor.  JAMA 2006, 295:90-3.3. Not-so-deep impact.  Nature 2005, 435:1003-4.4. Petsko GA: Having an impact (factor).  Genome Biology 2008,9:107.5. Krüger R: LRRK2 in Parkinson's disease - drawing the curtainof penetrance: a commentary.  BMC Medicine 2008, 6:33.6. Latourelle JC, Sun M, Lew MF, Suchowersky O, Klein C, Golbe LI,Mark MH, Growdon JH, Wooten GF, Watts RL, Singer C, GldwurmS, Pezzoli G, Zini M, Saint-Hilaire MH, Hendricks AE, Williamson S,Nagle MW, Wilk JB, Massod T, Huskey KW, Laramie JM, DeStephanoAL, Baker KB, Itin I, et al.: The Gly2019Ser mutation in LRRK2is not fully penetrant in familial Parkinson's disease: theGenePD study.  BMC Medicine 2008, 6:32.7. Coburn BJ, Wagner BG, Blower S: Modeling influenza epidemicsand pandemics: insights into the future of swine flu (H1N1).BMC Medicine 2009, 7:30.8. Raff M, Johnson A, Walter P: Painful publishing.  Science 2008,321:36.Pre-publication historyThe pre-publication history for this paper can be accessedhere:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/7/55/prepub

Having an impact (factor). Genome Biology

Itin I, et al.: The Gly2019Ser mutation in LRRK2 is not fully penetrant in familial Parkinson's disease: the GenePD study.

LRRK2 in Parkinson's disease - drawing the curtain of penetrance: a commentary.

Modeling influenza epidemics and pandemics: insights into the future of swine flu (H1N1). BMC Medicine

Nature

Painful publishing. Science 2008, 321:36. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:

The history and meaning of the journal impact factor. JAMA

A vision of the future for BMC Medicine

A vision of the future for BMC Medicine

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Edinburgh Research Explorer