BMJ Quality & Safety

BMJ Quality & Safety
Title	BMJ Quality & Safety
Discipline	Patient safety, healthcare quality
Abbreviation	BMJ Qual. Saf.
Publisher	BMJ Publishing Group
History	1992–present
Frequency	Monthly
Issn	2044-5415

BMJ Quality & Safety is a peer-reviewed medical journal focusing on patient safety and healthcare quality improvement. Founded to address systemic issues in clinical care, the journal publishes research, reviews, and policy analyses that intersect with clinical practice, health services, and regulatory frameworks. It serves clinicians, policymakers, hospital administrators, and researchers engaged with efforts to reduce harm and improve outcomes across healthcare systems.

History

BMJ Quality & Safety traces its origins to initiatives in the early 1990s that followed inquiries such as the Kennedy Inquiry and responses to high-profile reports like the Institute of Medicine’s landmark study, which spurred global attention comparable to discussions around the Bristol heart scandal and reforms in the National Health Service. The journal emerged alongside contemporaries influenced by events including the Bristol Royal Infirmary inquiry, the Shipman Inquiry, and reforms enacted after the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry. Early editorial leadership featured figures associated with institutions such as Imperial College London, University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Cambridge, reflecting cross-Atlantic collaborations reminiscent of networks linking Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, and World Health Organization experts. Over time the journal documented policy debates connected to Care Quality Commission, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and regulatory shifts following cases like the Francis Report and international movements such as the Patient Safety Movement Foundation.

Scope and Editorial Focus

The journal covers empirical studies, systematic reviews, and implementation science concerning clinical safety, quality improvement, and organizational change. Topics span areas influenced by clinical specialties and institutions including Cardiff University, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, and King's College London, and intersect with clinical domains reflected in trials from St Thomas' Hospital, Guy's Hospital, Addenbrooke's Hospital, and Royal Free Hospital. Editorial priorities often align with frameworks promulgated by bodies like European Medicines Agency, National Health Service England, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and Canadian Patient Safety Institute. Methodological emphasis involves designs championed at centers such as University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Stanford University School of Medicine, and University of California, San Francisco, and draws on comparative work akin to studies at Karolinska Institutet, University of Toronto, University College London, and Monash University.

Publication and Access

Published by the BMJ Publishing Group, the journal issues monthly volumes and accepts submissions from authors affiliated with institutions like Yale University, Princeton University, Duke University, Columbia University, and University of Chicago. The editorial office coordinates peer review processes similar to those managed by journals such as The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, and Health Affairs. Access models have evolved in parallel with debates involving Plan S, institutional repositories at Wellcome Trust and NIHR, and open access policies influenced by funders including the Gates Foundation, European Commission, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Abstracting and Indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major bibliographic databases and services analogous to listings in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Its metadata appear in indexing platforms used by institutions such as WorldCat, CrossRef, Clarivate Analytics, and Google Scholar. Citation tracking and metrics are reported alongside datasets curated by initiatives like ORCID, ResearchGate, Figshare, and repositories associated with Dryad and Zenodo.

Impact and Reception

BMJ Quality & Safety has influenced policy discussions and clinical guidelines referenced by organizations such as National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, World Health Organization, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Health Quality Ontario, and Royal College of Nursing. Its articles have been cited in reports from commissions like the Francis Inquiry, legal reviews involving General Medical Council, and white papers from think tanks including King's Fund, The Nuffield Trust, RAND Corporation, and Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Scholarly reception has compared its influence to that of journals such as Quality and Safety in Health Care, Journal of Patient Safety, and BMJ Open Quality, and it has been discussed in academic forums at venues like Institute for Healthcare Improvement Annual Forum, European Society for Quality in Healthcare, Association for Health Services Research, and major conferences hosted by American Public Health Association.

Notable Articles and Contributions

Notable contributions include systematic reviews and landmark empirical studies addressing adverse events, safety culture, handover communication, and checklists—research trajectories paralleling work by investigators at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Articles have informed implementation projects similar to the Surgical Safety Checklist initiative, the Central Line Bundle reductions in bloodstream infections, and analyses related to electronic health records implemented at Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Geisinger Health System, and Veterans Health Administration. The journal has published influential studies on measurement frameworks used by Donabedian Prize recipients, case series that echoed findings from the Bristol case, and policy analyses cited by commissions such as the Berwick Report and the Keogh Review.

Category:Medical journals