BMJ Open

BMJ Open
Title	BMJ Open
Discipline	Medicine
Abbreviation	BMJ Open
Publisher	British Medical Journal
Country	United Kingdom
History	2011–present
Frequency	Continuous
License	Creative Commons

BMJ Open is an open-access, peer-reviewed medical journal publishing research across clinical medicine, public health, and health services. Launched in 2011 by the British Medical Journal group, it accepts original research, protocols, and meta-analyses, and operates a continuous publication model. The journal sits alongside titles such as The BMJ, BMJ Quality & Safety, and Heart (journal) within the same publishing house.

History

BMJ Open was established in 2011 as part of a trend toward open-access publishing that included journals like PLOS Medicine, BMC Medicine, and The Lancet Global Health. The journal’s founding reflects developments associated with the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, and funding mandates from agencies such as the Wellcome Trust, the National Institutes of Health, and the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom). Early editorial leadership drew on networks involving editors from The BMJ, Nature Medicine, and BMJ Global Health. The journal expanded its editorial board with experts affiliated with institutions including University of Oxford, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, and University College London.

Throughout the 2010s BMJ Open positioned itself amid debates involving publishers like Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley-Blackwell and participated in initiatives with organizations such as COPE and the Committee on Publication Ethics. The journal adapted policies influenced by events including the implementation of the European Open Science Cloud and shifts in funder requirements driven by the Plan S coalition.

Scope and Content

BMJ Open publishes a broad range of article types, paralleling formats seen in JAMA, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Lancet. The journal covers randomized controlled trials reminiscent of studies registered with ClinicalTrials.gov and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), cohort and case-control studies comparable to research in The BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, diagnostic accuracy studies similar to work in Radiology (journal), and systematic reviews akin to publications in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. BMJ Open also accepts protocols, methodological papers, and negative results, aligning with movements promoted by Center for Open Science, Open Research Funders Group, and the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines.

Subject areas include clinical specialties referenced by journals such as BMJ Paediatrics Open, BMJ Open Respiratory Research, BMJ Open Ophthalmology, and comparable outlets like Annals of Internal Medicine, Circulation, and Gastroenterology. The journal attracts submissions from researchers at organizations such as World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mayo Clinic, Karolinska Institute, and University of Toronto.

Editorial and Peer Review Process

The editorial infrastructure mirrors practices used by major publishers including Taylor & Francis and SAGE Publications and follows ethical frameworks from Committee on Publication Ethics and guidance similar to ICMJE recommendations. Manuscripts are handled by an editorial team that includes academic editors with affiliations to institutions such as King's College London, University of Cambridge, Stanford University, and University of Melbourne. Peer reviewers are often researchers associated with consortia and societies like the Royal College of Physicians, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association.

BMJ Open employs single-blind peer review by default and has experimented with transparent review models analogous to practices at eLife and BMJ Open Science. Editorial decisions take into account reporting standards promoted by CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE, and STARD. The journal uses manuscript submission systems similar to ScholarOne and Editorial Manager.

Open Access Policy and Licensing

BMJ Open is fully open access and adopts licensing consistent with the Creative Commons family, comparable to licenses used by PLOS Medicine and BioMed Central titles. Funding and article processing charges mirror arrangements seen at publishers such as Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, and the journal accepts funding acknowledgements from entities including the National Institute for Health Research, the European Commission, and philanthropic funders like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The journal’s policies respond to funder mandates from groups such as Wellcome Trust and adherents of Plan S.

The licensing regime facilitates text and data mining practices advocated by the Open Data Commons and data-sharing expectations echoed by the UK Research and Innovation and the NIH Data Sharing Policy.

Abstracting and Indexing

BMJ Open is indexed in major bibliographic databases similar to indexing for PubMed Central, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE. The journal’s metadata is harvested by services including CrossRef, DOAJ, Google Scholar, and citation trackers maintained by Clarivate. Coverage supports research assessment systems such as those used by Research Excellence Framework and institutional repositories at universities like ETH Zurich and McGill University.

Reception and Impact

BMJ Open has been cited in policy documents produced by agencies such as the World Health Organization, the National Health Service (England), and health technology assessment bodies including NICE and ICER. Academic reception includes citations in journals like Lancet Public Health, BMJ Global Health, and JAMA Network Open. The journal’s impact metrics are discussed alongside debates involving impact factor calculations by Clarivate Analytics and alternative metrics provided by Altmetric and Dimensions.

Authors from institutions such as Princeton University, Yale University, University of California, San Francisco, and Seoul National University have published in the journal, and its articles have informed clinical guidelines from organizations like the American College of Physicians and the European Respiratory Society.

Controversies and Retractions

BMJ Open has faced scrutiny typical of large open-access titles, including discussions about article quality that mirror controversies at publishers like Frontiers and Springer Nature, and has issued retractions analogous to cases tracked by the Retraction Watch database. Editorial disputes have referenced standards advocated by COPE and legal considerations similar to those engaged in cases involving Elsevier and Wiley. The journal has implemented corrective actions and retraction notices in line with best practices endorsed by ICMJE and has revised policies in response to incidents also discussed in forums such as the World Conference on Research Integrity.

Category:Academic journals