With Retirement Of NEJM's Editor, Doctors See A Chance For Prestigious Journal To Adjust Course

As Dr. Jeffrey Drazen steps down from the post he held for 18 years, doctors weigh in on changes they'd like to see rather than having it be a place to publish the "most important" studies. “The main job of journals will not be to disseminate science but to ‘speak truth to power,’ encourage debate, campaign, investigate and agenda-set — the same job as the mass media," Dr. Richard Smith told Stat.

Stat: At NEJM, Change At Top Offers A Chance To Reshape The World’s Oldest Medical Journal

The retirement of Dr. Jeffrey Drazen as editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, announced last week, has created an opportunity to bring a new perspective to what is arguably the world’s most prestigious medical journal. Scientific publishing has changed a great deal during the 18 years that Drazen, who will remain in the post during the search for his replacement, has run the more than 200-year-old journal. Advances in technology, more scrutiny of publishing and peer review, and the emergence of some models — particularly preprints — threaten to erode the hegemony that journals like the NEJM have long enjoyed. Barely whispers at the turn of the millennium for most journals, open access and open data in medicine now are important parts of the discussion. (Marcus and Oransky, 10/3)

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