BMJ Publishing Group: an introduction

1
BMJ Publishing Group an introduction

• Richard Smith
• Editor, BMJ
• July 2002

2
BMJPG mission

• To publish intellectually sound material that
  will serve the needs of doctors, members, other
  health professionals, the scientific community,
  and the public
• To generate enough surplus to fulfil our primary
  purpose

3
BMJ vision

• To be the most influential publisher

4
BMJPG the basics

• Founded 1840
• Turnover 40m
• Profit 9m
• Staff 200 (many others are involved)
• Owned by the BMA. Becoming a wholly owned
  subsidiary

5
Parts of the BMJPG

• BMJ 19m
• Specialist journals 11m
• BMJ Books 3.5m
• BMJ Knowledge 4.5m
• BMJ Quality
• Unified (joint venture)
• BMJ Careers
• BMJ Learning

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Specialist journals

• Just under 30 journals
• Some well established Gut, Thorax, Archives of
  Disease in Childood
• Others newer Emergency Medicine, Tobacco Control
• Many co-owned
• All have websites
• Several have local editions
• Many moving into education

7
BMJ Books

• Publish around 40 a year
• ABCs are well known
• Some large evidence based books
• Bookshop
• Online bookshop
• e-books available

8
BMJ Knowledge

• Built around Clinical Evidence, a compendium of
  evidence based answers to commonly asked clinical
  questions
• Updated six monthly, Number 7 just published
• Over 500 000 copies distributed
• Also available in a concise edition, specialist
  editions, internet, CD Rom, intranet, handheld

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BMJ Knowledge

• Editions available in German, Japanese, Italian,
  Spanish, Russian, and French
• Expansion into diagnosis and harms
• Expansion into Clinical Alerts
• Expansion into delivering information during the
  consultation

10
BMJ Quality

• Joint ventures with the Institute for Healthcare
  Improvement, Boston
• A journal Quality and Safety in Healthcare
• European and Asia-Pacific Forums on Quality
  Improvement in Healthcare
• qualityhealthcare.org

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Unified

• A joint venture with United Healthcare Group to
  build an evidence based website for patients and
  healthcare workers
• Includes online classes for patients with breast
  cancer

12
BMJ Careers

• Job advertising in paper and one the web
• Many innovations--including job matching
• Careers Fair
• Career Focus
• Matching schemes

13
BMJ Learning

• The best available website for online learning
• Being built on a deep understanding of what
  doctors want, what the evidence shows works, and
  whats available at the moment
• There is much room to do better

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BMJ mission I

• To publish rigorous, accessible, and entertaining
  material that will help doctors and medical
  students in their daily practice, lifelong
  learning, and career development. In addition, to
  be at the forefront of the international debate
  on health.

15
BMJ mission II

• To produce sufficient surplus to develop the
  primary mission and in good years to invest in
  the rest of the group and contribute to the
  activities of the BMA.

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Versions of the BMJ I

• Weekly paper BMJ
• 4 versions hospital, GPs, international, compact
• Editorially almost identical, different
  advertising
• Circulation 108 000
• 95 000 in Britain, reaching the home of 80 of UK
  doctors

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Versions of the BMJ II

• bmj.com
• 500 000 visitors a month
• ranked 12 000th of 34 million websites (Lancet
  and JAMA 26 000, NEJM 32 000, AIM 132 000)
• The real BMJ, includes everything thats in the
  paper BMJ plus much more

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Versions of the BMJ III

• Student BMJ
• The weekly BMJ on speed
• 12 000 circulation, mostly in Britain--reaching
  60 of students
• Web version

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Versions of the BMJ IV

• Local editions
• Produced by local publishers
• Material selected from the BMJ
• Some local material
• Mostly supported by advertising
• Perhaps 200 000 copies

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BMJ local editions

• China
• Greece
• Hungary
• South Asia
• Middle East

• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Rumania
• Turkey
• USA

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Versions of the BMJ IV

• BMJ Careers
• Two advertising supplements
• Career focus (7 pages a week)
• Careers fair
• Matching services
• Career advice
• BMJ soap opera
• Much more to come