ARE MEDICAL JOURNAL EDITORS SINGING MORE LOUDLY AND PREACHING MORE?

Richard Smith
BMJ, BMA House, Tavistock Sq, London WC1H 9JR, UK

Objective: To test the hypotheses that (a) the editors of the main general medical journals are writing more editorials at greater length and that (b) those editorials are more likely to be preaching than other editorials.

Design: Retrospective review of editorials appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, and the New England Journal of Medicine from 1986 through 1996 and in The Lancet from 1993 through 1996 (when editorials and commentaries were first signed). The total number of editorials (and, for The Lancet, commentaries), the total number of column centimeters devoted to editorials, the number written by editors and other members of the editorial team, and the total number of column centimeters written by editors and their teams will be determined to test whether the number, proportion, and length of editorials written by editors and their teams is increasing. "Preaching" will be measured by counting the number of "musts" and "shoulds" in the editorials and in the first editorial in each case that immediately follows those written by the editors and their teams. The proportion of "musts" and "shoulds" in editorials written by editors and their teams will be assessed as well as whether that proportion is growing over time.

Results: To be presented.

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