Alex Williamson

What will happen to peer review

The author summarizes the benefits and disadvantages of peer review and discusses a number of examples of difficulties with it that have arisen in the medical literature. In the absence of a generally accepted alternative, she sets out the conditions under which the present system should be operated so as to achieve its purpose.

Paediatric Asthma—a new virtual journal

The global initiative for asthma, a joint project between the Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization, has designated 7 May 2002 as world asthma day. This year children will be the focus![Graphic][1] logically, because 90% of patients have developed the disease by the age of 6 years.1 In Britain asthma is the most commonly identified chronic childhood disease, affecting one in eight children and resulting in 30 000 hospital admissions annually.2 … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif

Medical journal publishing: one culture or several?

Medical publishing uses the skills of people from a wide range of backgrounds. In this study we set out to examine their attitudes and assess the degree of homogeneity. We gathered questionnaire responses from selected editors and medical reviewers and found that, on the whole, there was a homogeneous culture, though there were some significant differences. This has important implications for managers and trainers.