The first English-language general medical journal was Medicina Curiosa, established in 1684, but it ceased publication after only two issues.
[4] Among the oldest general medical journals that are still in publication today are The Lancet, established in 1823, and the New England Journal of Medicine, established in 1812.
[2] Specialty-specific medical journals were first introduced in the early 20th century.
[11] Richard Smith, the former editor of the medical journal the BMJ, has been critical of many of the aspects of modern-day medical journal publishing.
[5][12] Critics of medical publishing have argued that problems related to gaming of citation and authorship are prevalent in the field, as many authors did not actually contribute to the articles that their names are on, many contributors to the articles are excluded from authorship, and strategic and unnecessary citations are prevalent to boost scores.