You are doing amazing things, and we want to hear about them

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 65, No. 5, June 2023, Page 154 Editorials

Calling all readers: we want to hear from you!

The BC Medical Journal is a unique publication—it is the only provincial medical journal in Canada and one of Doctors of BC’s longest-running member benefits. And it is you, our readers and colleagues, who contribute to its success and quality. We are proud and humbled to facilitate communication between doctors of all specialties throughout our beautiful province. We know from reader research that physicians across all disciplines read the BCMJ, so if your article is published here, I would argue that more of your colleagues are likely to see it than if it were published in any other journal.

In the first quarter of 2023, we received more submissions than ever before, and we couldn’t be happier about it. We have been impressed by the work being done by some of our province’s largest screening programs, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer screening. UBC medical students continue to contribute in the BCMD2B category, which highlights a promising future for our profession, and the BCMJ remains a place to learn about timely public health issues such as increasing rates of syphilis and opioid use. I want to encourage our readers to continue the good work of writing for the journal. Physicians from across our province are doing amazing things, and our mission is to share that information. Tell us what you’re up to!

Clinical articles are always welcome, including papers on randomized controlled trials, retrospective cohort studies, and quality assurance projects. Remember that medical learners are often seeking research and writing mentorship, and this can be a good way to get our newer colleagues involved in medical writing. If research is not your cup of tea, consider submitting a Clinical Image with an accompanying description or a short blurb for our online Blog. We also recently introduced a new article type—BC Stories—where we encourage you to tell us about an experience in your life outside of medicine, whether tales of the arts, athletics, travel, or humanities from around BC. Finally, if you’ve got an opinion to share, then tell us what you really think. The Premise category includes essays and opinion pieces on any medicine-related topic, and Letters to the Editor are a quick way to share your point of view.

Diversity is essential; it enhances the quality of health care we can offer to patients, and when we share experiences from our diverse physician workforce, we have an opportunity to advance the culturally sensitive and appropriate care we provide, leading to better health outcomes. Our province’s diverse population comprises individuals from a variety of ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, each with unique health care needs. The more we communicate, the better we foster a collaborative and inclusive health care system that benefits everyone in British Columbia.
—Caitlin Dunne, MD

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Caitlin Dunne, MD, FRCSC. You are doing amazing things, and we want to hear about them. BCMJ, Vol. 65, No. 5, June, 2023, Page(s) 154 - Editorials.



Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

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