The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery

The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery is a peer-reviewed medical journal focusing on clinical and laboratory research in orthopaedics. It is published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and has been influential in shaping practice at institutions such as the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cleveland Clinic and Hospital for Special Surgery. The journal has contributed to literature cited by organizations including the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Surgeons and the National Academy of Medicine.

History

The journal traces origins to late 19th-century professional movements involving figures like William Osler, Harvey Cushing, Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, Robert Jones, Sir Alfred Roberts and organizations such as the American Medical Association and the Royal College of Surgeons. Early exchanges among surgeons from Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore paralleled conferences like the International Congress of Surgery and exhibitions at the Pan-American Exposition, while editorial influence reflected correspondence with editors of The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Annals of Surgery and The Journal of the American Medical Association. Throughout the 20th century the journal published work by clinicians associated with universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Stanford University and University of Pennsylvania and responded to developments following events like World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and advances typified by pioneers including Sir John Charnley, Gustav Kromer, Sir Reginald Watson-Jones and Sir George MacEwen.

Editorial scope and publication formats

The journal's editorial scope covers surgical techniques, prosthetic design, fracture management, pediatric orthopaedics, spine surgery, sports medicine, oncology, trauma and basic science, with submissions from centers such as UCLA, University of Michigan, Duke University, Mount Sinai Health System and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Formats include original research articles, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, clinical practice guidelines, technical notes, case reports, editorials and letters to the editor, with peer review processes comparable to those at Nature Medicine, The BMJ, The Lancet Oncology and Annals of Internal Medicine. The journal has collaborated with professional entities like the Orthopaedic Research Society, the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, the Scoliosis Research Society, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons and the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America on consensus statements and special supplements.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is indexed in major bibliographic services used by institutions such as PubMed Central, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase and CINAHL, and its content is catalogued in systems maintained by the National Library of Medicine, the Library of Congress and international databases linked to WorldCat and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Citations to the journal appear in policy documents from bodies including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the European Medicines Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and in guideline repositories of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Rheumatology.

Impact and reception

The journal's impact has been measured by metrics reported alongside journals like Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Bone & Joint Research, The Bone & Joint Journal and Journal of Orthopaedic Research and has influenced curricula at medical schools including Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Weill Cornell Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Its articles have been cited in landmark legal cases, policy debates and guideline panels involving entities such as the United States Congress, the Supreme Court of the United States, the European Court of Human Rights, the World Bank and the United Nations. Peer commentary has appeared in periodicals like Science, Nature, Health Affairs, The New Yorker and The Atlantic.

Notable articles and contributions

Notable contributions include early descriptions of aseptic technique echoed by surgeons such as Joseph Lister, foundational reports on hip arthroplasty paralleling the work of Sir John Charnley, seminal fracture classification systems related to names like AO Foundation, innovations in spinal fusion techniques associated with investigators from Thomas Jefferson University, influential randomized trials similar to those led at Karolinska Institutet, and registry analyses comparable to datasets from the National Joint Registry and the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register. The journal has published influential case series and randomized trials that informed devices cleared by the Food and Drug Administration, training standards adopted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and multicenter studies coordinated with groups such as the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, the American Joint Replacement Registry and the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society.

Category:Orthopaedic journals