Journal Clubs: 1. Origins.

Abstract

A journal club is a group of individuals who meet regularly to discuss publications that are relevant to their professional interests; the term is also used to describe such a meeting. The earliest mention of a journal club that I have found is in an 1854 paper by Sir John Forbes in The Association Medical Journal , which was published between 1853 and 1856, and was a forerunner of the BMJ . The Association was in financial straits, as Forbes discussed1: ‘Our dear old ASSOCIATION is in rather a bad plight; but I hope and trust she is not in any risk of death or decay, but is merely passing through a dangerous crisis, to come out of it more vivacious and more vigorous than ever.’ He was mainly concerned about the future of the journal: ‘The Association, if it exists at all, must retain …