BCMJ celebrates in style

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 50, No. 7, September 2008, Page 407 News
By: Kashmira Suraliwalla

“It’s been 50 years since the first issue of the British Columbia Medical Journal came off the press. So, we think that’s cause for celebration.” These two lines have actually been taken from a Pulsimeter item from the May 1983 BCMJ (page 264) the only change: replacing 25 with 50.

This half-century milestone was celebrated in style at Performance Works on Granville Island in August with authors, advertisers, and our suppliers all socializing under the best of circumstances with food and drink. This diverse bunch had one thing in common—they are all friends of the BCMJ and we are grateful for that support.

Something else that hasn’t changed over the years is that we still need your help—we pick your brains from time to time when external reviews are required, call on you to submit articles, and in general let us know of anything that will interest our physician readers. We’d like you to stir up some old memories, re-tell some of the more humorous aspects of medical practice, and let us know of any change you’d like to see.

Our continuous loop slideshow blending the old with the new was a hit. Our contests were popular, and a great fun time was had by all.

The doctors of British Columbia as our authors and readers are the strength of the Journal. We’re all in this together, and look forward to the next 50 years!

Thanks to those of you who could join us and make this such a memorable occasion. 

—Kashmira Suraliwalla
BCMJ Production Coordinator

Kashmira Suraliwalla. BCMJ celebrates in style. BCMJ, Vol. 50, No. 7, September, 2008, Page(s) 407 - News.


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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