key: cord-0050898-nbujga9d
authors: Mann, Douglas L.
title: Why Do Medical Journals Exist in the 21st Century?: Some Thoughts on the Next 5 Years of JACC: Basic to Translational Science
date: 2020-09-28
journal: JACC Basic Transl Sci
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2020.08.008
sha: c4b68bcea35b232858f3873376d02f103f74959a
doc_id: 50898
cord_uid: nbujga9d

nan

also firmly believed that journals should serve as a bully pulpit for social reform (2) . So what should medical journals really focus on in the 21st century? Richard Smith, the editor of the BMJ from 1991 to 2004, wrote: "I believe that a good journal will do all of these things, trying always to maintain a balance" (2) . However, with the current trends toward depositing new scientific work on pre-print servers, the proliferation of opportunistic for-profit open access journals, and the dizzying array of social media platforms that provide information in real time, I believe that it will be increasingly hard for journals to be all things to all people all of the time. However, that does not mean we should not lean in.

JACBTS was founded on 2 guiding principles that were articulated in 2016, in its first issue (3). The first principle was to provide a literary home for cardiovascular "translationalists" whose work stood at the 

Warped speed: how COVID-19 transfected and transformed medical journals

What and who are medical journals for?

Introducing JACC: Basic to Translational Science: Why now?