What are Medical Journals? Let's find out exactly what they are!

Do you sometimes see news on the Internet or in newspapers like "A new cure for that disease has been found" or "This food kills cancer"? When we see things like this, we get very curious. So where does this information really come from? Often, the first source of such medical news is " medical journals". So today, let's talk about what these medical journals are, how reliable they are, and what we should be careful about when reading them.

Simply put, what are these medical journals?

Think of it this way. Doctors and scientists are constantly conducting new research on how diseases develop in our bodies and what are the best ways to treat them. The findings from this research, along with scholarly articles and opinions, are published in publications called medical journals . These are like magazines dedicated to those in the medical field. There are more than 30,000 of these magazines worldwide. But among them, a few magazines like *The New England Journal of Medicine* and *JAMA* are very famous. These are usually read by doctors, scientists, and medical students. But anyone who wants to understand scientific facts can read them. Anyone can also find published studies and research on a particular disease or treatment through `PubMed`, an online database maintained by the National Library of Medicine in the United States.

How does research get published in this journal?

This is the most important thing. This process is like a filter, removing errors and flaws in the information and ensuring its quality. Let's see how it works. Imagine a group of scientists conducting a study on "Does a newly developed drug really lower cholesterol?" 1. Research and article: They conduct the study, collect the results, and write a detailed scientific article (manuscript) about it. 2. Submission to the journal: Then, the article is sent to the editorial board of a medical journal that they think is suitable for the study. 3. Editorial review: The editor of the journal first sees whether the article will be important to the readers of that journal and whether it has any value. 4. Peer review: If the editor thinks the article is good, the editor sends the article to another group of experts in the same field who did the research. They read the article and check for any flaws or errors in the research methods and the accuracy of the results. This process is called ``Peer Review'' or "expert review". 5. Decision:Based on these experts' recommendations, if the article has major flaws, it is rejected for publication. If there are minor flaws, it is sent back to the researchers to fix. If everything is correct, the article is selected for publication in the journal.

Do I have to pay to read these magazines?

There are two main methods here. One is the traditional method of charging fees, and the other is the method of giving free reading. Let's look at the difference between these two. Open Access journals offer the great advantage of allowing anyone to read new research for free. But there is also a downside.

Beware! Also learn about "Predatory Journals"

One of the most dangerous things that has emerged with the ``Open Access`` system is what we call predatory journals . These are like pirated journals. Their main goal is not to advance medical science, but to make money.

• They constantly send emails to scientists who are eager to publish their research, forcing them to pay money to publish articles.
• Most importantly, most of these journals do not conduct any kind of peer review . That is, there is no check on the accuracy and quality of the information in the article.
• Sometimes, even for a scientist, it can be difficult to tell whether a journal is good or a plagiarism like this. However, if the journal's website and articles have a lot of spelling and grammatical errors, there is a high chance that it is a fake journal like this.

If you are reading an article in a medical journal...

If you or someone close to you has a medical condition, you may want to read magazines like this to find out the latest information about it. That's a good thing. However, if you're entering this deep world of medical science, you need to be very careful about a few things. Therefore, never stop taking a medication you are currently taking or start a new treatment based on an article you read in a medical journal or on the Internet. Before doing anything, be sure to talk to your doctor about it. Your doctor can explain the true nature of the research and whether it is right for you. Medical Journals, research, peer review, open access, predatory journals, health information, medical news