JAMA, published continuously since 1883, is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal published 48 times per year. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world. The online version is made freely available to institutions in developing countries. JAMA's 2011 impact factor is 30 (the impact factor is a measure of citation rate per article, and is calculated by dividing 1 year's worth of citations to a journal's articles published in the previous 2 years by the number of major articles [eg, research papers, reviews] published by that journal in those 2 years). JAMA's acceptance rate is approximately 9% of the nearly 6000 solicited and unsolicited manuscripts it receives annually. In 2011, the median time from submission to acceptance for all articles was 42 days and, for Online First articles, 17 days. The median time from acceptance to publication was 33 days for all articles and 18 days for articles published Online First (for additional information, see the JAMA editorial). The Editor-in-Chief of JAMA is Howard Bauchner, MD (see JAMA Editors and Publishers).
JAMA's Key and Critical Objectives
Key Objective
To promote the science and art of medicine and the betterment of the public health
Critical Objectives
- To maintain the highest standards of editorial integrity independent of any special interests
- To publish original, important, valid, peer-reviewed articles on a diverse range of medical topics
- To foster responsible and balanced debate on important issues that affect medicine, health, health care, and health policy
- To provide physicians with continuing education in basic and clinical science to support informed clinical decisions and ongoing career development
- To enable physicians to remain informed in multiple areas of medicine, including developments in fields other than their own
- To improve health and health care internationally by elevating the quality of medical care, disease prevention, and research
- To inform readers about the various aspects of medicine and public health, including the political, philosophic, ethical, legal, environmental, economic, historical, and cultural
- To recognize that, in addition to these specific objectives, JAMA has a social responsibility to improve the total human condition and to promote the integrity of science
- To achieve the highest level of ethical medical journalism and to produce a publication that is timely, credible, and enjoyable to read
- To use technologies to drive innovation and improve the communication of journal content
Print ISSN: 0098-7484
Online ISSN: 1538-3598