The US sisters of the BMJ

To celebrate four centuries of British-American relations, the Library of Congress and the British Library developed the John Bull and Uncle Sam exhibition.¹ One exhibit is a cartoon that accompanied an editorial in Collier's magazine in 1953 (figure). The editorial sought to quell anti-British feelings prompted by disparaging remarks about the US made by the British prime minister. It reminded Americans of the important ties between the two nations and suggested that they sign a “Declaration of Interdependence.” The BMJ Publishing Group is contributing to this interdependence by publishing two sister journals to the BMJ—BMJ USA, which is being launched this month, and the Western Journal of Medicine (WJM), which circulates in the western states of the US.

The interdependence is particularly evident in science and medicine. In the same year that the editorial in Collier's was published, Francis Crick (a Briton) and James Watson (an American) announced that they had determined the structure of DNA. Nearly 50 years later teams of American and British researchers announced that they had completed a working draft of the human genome.^2–3 The concept of evidence based medicine developed in North America, but—like Jimi Hendrix—had to come to Britain to get famous.

The BMJ Publishing Group is taking several steps to promote communication and across the Atlantic. This month, in partnership with the Clinicians Group (a publisher based in Clifton, New Jersey), we are launching BMJ USA. It will be sent monthly to about 100 000 primary care physicians in the United States. Featuring articles from the weekly BMJ particularly relevant to the US, it will also contain material from other BMJ Publishing Group journals—such as Heart, Gut, and Thorax—and from Clinical Evidence. Between those items we will sprinkle content commissioned from the US, which will be available to all on bmj.com.

BMJ USA becomes one of a dozen local editions of the BMJ published throughout the world. Already it is suggesting new ways in which our local editions can be dynamic and creative. For example, it will publish selected “rapid responses” from bmj.com alongside the articles to which they relate, illustrating the debate prompted by the articles.

The Western Journal of Medicine (www.ewjm.com) is a long established journal that was bought by the BMJ Publishing Group a few years ago. Within a few weeks the five medical schools of the University of California will probably become co-owners of the journal. The journal uses some material from the BMJ Publishing Group but has a uniquely western flavour. With a vision of being the medical journal of the future (what the west coast is doing today the rest of us do 10 years later), the journal has an educational mission and a design that is admired by all who encounter it. It is also using original research, audio clips, video ethics cases, educational cases, and interactive web technology to involve healthcare providers in a dynamic process of education. More than anything WJM is intended to be a constant reminder of what is good about being a doctor. The journal is now being distributed to over 35 000 physicians and medical students in California and the west.

Regular BMJ readers are already familiar with Clinical Evidence, as selected chapters appear periodically in the BMJ. It is a compendium of the best available evidence on important questions in clinical practice and joins evidence based journals, books, and CDs already published by the BMJ Publishing Group.⁴ The first evidence based product we introduced in the US was Evidence-Based Medicine, a bimonthly journal co-owned with the American College of Physicians—American Society of Internal Medicine. Now our reach has expanded substantially as the UnitedHealth Foundation is distributing Clinical Evidence to 400 000 American physicians for the next three years.⁵ In addition, the BMJ and UnitedHealth are cosponsoring a website, currently in development, to disseminate evidence based information to practitioners and consumers in the US.

All these products—BMJ USA, Clinical Evidence, and a redesigned WJM—grew out of the BMJ Publishing Group's mission to provide intellectually sound material that will serve the needs of doctors, members, the health professions, the scientific community, and the public. These constituencies are increasingly dependent on the global sharing of information. The sooner we embrace our interdependence, the better we'll be in improving clinical practice and public health.

Figure.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“Time for a New Declaration,” 1953, John R Fischetti