JAMA Internal Medicine—The Year in Review, 2023 (2024)

We live in a tumultuous time of increased health care challenges within a milieu of ongoing COVID-19, climate change, war, gun violence, racial and ethnic discrimination, political divisions, and ongoing financial challenges to health care systems and financing. Amidst this background, the JAMA Internal Medicine editors came together to renew our commitment to publishing evidence to inform and improve health and health care. Our commitment is captured in our new mission statement: “To advance the equitable, person-centered, and evidence-based practice of internal medicine through publication of scientifically rigorous, innovative, and inclusive research, review, and commentary that informs dialogue and action with clinical, public health, and policy impact.”¹

In direct alignment with this mission, published articles have addressed meaningful themes, such as the treatment and outcomes of COVID-19, benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence in health care, importance of prevention in health care, association of social determinants of health and violence with health, and lack of equity in health care. Our articles, such as those featured in the Table,²^-6 have informed, raised awareness, and proposed solutions. We prioritize articles that have strong clinical relevance and the potential to change clinical practice.⁷

Table. JAMA Internal Medicine Statistics for 2023

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Our year-end statistics reflect the broad global effect and reach of JAMA Internal Medicine. Despite the anticipated decrease in COVID-19 articles and the associated deflation in the Journal Impact Factor, the journal performance has remained robust. Submissions remain steady at 3419 received in 2023, with acceptance rates of 13% overall and 6% for original research articles. Our review times remain expeditious, with time to initial decision without peer review at a median of 2 days and time to first decision with peer review at a median of 39 days. Approximately 350 000 receive our weekly electronic Table of Contents, and there were more than 15 million article views and downloads in 2023. The 2022 Journal Impact Factor was 39, placing JAMA Internal Medicine among the leading journals in internal medicine worldwide.

During the 6 months since I took the helm at JAMA Internal Medicine, we have introduced new themes, series, and article types. We have already published articles in our new theme of Climate Change and Health. We will soon be issuing 2 new calls for papers in 2024. Our first call on the theme of Women’s Health⁸ (led by Deborah Grady, MD, MPH) highlights a relatively neglected scientific area of fundamental importance to health worldwide. Our second call on Innovations in Clinical Trials (led by Tracy Wang, MD, MHS, MSc, and Giselle Corbie, MD, MSc) will highlight our interest in rigorous clinical trials relevant to internal medicine, with particular emphasis on nonpharmacologic and behavioral interventions, innovative trial designs, and pragmatic trials that promote equity.

We are deeply committed to addressing racism and ageism in medicine, health care, and public health globally. Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH, serves as our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Associate Editor, collaborating with the rest of the JAMA Network to implement the plan to increase equity, diversity, and inclusion at our journal and the entire network. We are working to increase diversity of our editors, authors, commentators, and reviewers. We prioritized publishing the highest-quality studies regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion, resulting in more than 25 publications on this topic in 2023.

We have expanded the Clinical Review and Education series (led by Michael Incze, MD, joined by Kenneth Covinsky, MD, MPH) to include narrative reviews and Clinical Insights,⁹ along with continuation of our successful Teachable Moments and Challenges in Clinical Electrocardiography sections. Our new Inside Story section (led by Deborah Grady, MD, MPH) features personal stories and experiences relevant to internal medicine.¹⁰ The Guide to Statistics and Methods series (led by Heather Gwynn Allore, MS, PhD, joined by Yorghos Tripodis, PhD) provides accessible guidance to the methodologic details in our published research articles.¹¹ Under the coleadership of Michael Incze, MD, and Kenneth Covinsky, MD, MPH, we will be launching a new 1-year JAMA Internal Medicine Editorial Fellowship this year, targeted toward junior faculty and intended to provide an immersive experience in editing and publishing at a medical journal. The first round of applications is due April 15, with 3 fellows starting July 1, 2024.¹²

All of this would not have been possible without the hard work of an amazing team of editors. My deepest gratitude goes to deputy editors Deborah Grady, MD, MPH, and Mitchell H. Katz, MD, and our team of 7 associate editors (Giselle Corbie, MD, MSc; Kenneth Covinsky, MD, MPH; Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH; Ishani Ganguli, MD, MPH; Cary P. Gross, MD; Lona Mody, MD, MSc; and Tracy Wang, , MD, MHS, MSc) who handle research manuscripts and work tirelessly to ensure that we publish high-quality work in every issue. Our weekly manuscript meetings allow for a lively and in-depth discussion of all manuscripts under consideration for publication. Our statistical editors, Heather Gwynn Allore, MS, PhD, and Yorghos Tripodis, PhD, have developed a stellar system to ensure each accepted manuscript receives statistical review and input. I thank Lona Mody and Tracy Wang, who have joined me in triaging all submitted manuscripts for the past 6 months. Our success would not be possible without the day-to-day work of our extremely dedicated and capable editorial manager, Marian Weidner, assisted by editorial assistant Terri Carter. Our distinguished editorial board has contributed to reviews and commentaries and provided ongoing guidance and advice on improving our journal. I want to extend a special thanks for dedicated and continuous support of the JAMA and JAMA Network leadership from Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, editor in chief; Annette Flanagin, RN, MA, executive managing editor; Gregory Curfman, MD, executive editor; and the entire staff of JAMA and the JAMA Network. We could not do this without you.

On behalf of all the editors, I sincerely thank our peer reviewers in 2023, who are listed elsewhere in the journal.¹³ We are so grateful for your knowledge, expertise, and insights, which are so critical to our review process. We realize that these reviews take time and effort, and we acknowledge and thank our reviewers for their invaluable contributions. To further recognize and build our pool of peer reviewers we have created a group of Distinguished Reviewers who have contributed high-quality and timely reviews during the past year and who intend to continue at this level of contribution and will be listed on the journal’s online masthead. We have also created a group of Distinguished Reviewers in Women’s Health, who will provide high-quality and timely reviews for our new Women’s Health series and will be listed on the journal’s online masthead.

Finally, our deepest thanks go to our authors and readers. To our authors, thank you for entrusting us with your important work. To our readers, thank you for giving us your input and viewing our articles and commentary. Your support is a testimony to the ongoing importance and value of the peer-reviewed scientific process and the validity of our work. Looking forward to 2024, we hope to continue to innovate and provide a home for cutting-edge, high-quality articles that will improve health and health care worldwide.