Global salt intake, smoking cessation through Facebook and the cost of childbirth: Most read articles in January

The most-read article in January was Snow et al.’s patient led study ‘What happens when patients know more than their doctors?’ on the impact of patient education on the lives of people with diabetes. Hsia et al.’s newly-published cross-sectional study on the variation in charges and prices paid for vaginal and caesarean births has also been popular. Other […]

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Thank you to our reviewers – 2013

Peer review is a fundamental part of publishing. Perhaps nowhere more so than in the open access field, which is often more scrutinised than other traditional publishing routes. Recognising this, the BMJ Open team would like to thank all 2725 peer reviewers who refereed for the journal in 2013 – your advice and considered remarks […]

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Healthy foods and diet patterns, patient knowledge and research funding: Most read articles in December

The most-read article in December was Rao et al’s article on healthier foods and diet patterns and whether they cost more than less healthy options. Carpenter et al‘s article on bed sharing and the risk of SIDS continues to be popular. Other newly-published papers in the top ten most read include Krusche et al‘s evaluation of the feasibility of […]

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Clinical Commissioning Groups in England serve too many masters

Accountability regime much more complex than in previous system; potentially competing agendas Clinical Commissioning Groups, the new family doctor-led bodies responsible for commissioning the largest chunk of healthcare in England, are accountable to too many masters with potentially competing agendas, concludes research published in BMJ Open. Clinical Commissioning Groups, or CCGs for short, are membership […]

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UK women scientists have fewer studies funded, and are given less money, than men

Women scientists specialising in infectious disease research have fewer studies funded than men, and receive less funding across most topic areas in the specialty than their male peers, finds a study published in BMJ Open. These gender discrepancies have remained broadly unchanged for more than a decade, the findings show. Attempts should be made to explore […]

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Social stigma, patient knowledge and bed sharing: Most read articles in November

The most-read article in November was Snow et al’s article on what happens when patients have more knowledge than their doctors. Werb et al‘s article on international government surveillance systems continues to be popular. Other newly-published papers in the top ten include Rajmil et al‘s look at the impact of the economic crisis on children’s health and Browne et al’s study […]

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C-section rate for private patients double that of publicly funded patients

Differences in medical or obstetric risks don’t fully explain disparity. The rate of scheduled caesarean sections among private patients is around double that of publicly funded patients, indicates a study of more than 30,000 women in Ireland, published in BMJ Open. Differences in the medical and obstetric risks between the two groups don’t fully explain […]

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Government surveillance systems, cleaning agents and autism: Most read articles in October

The most-read article in October was  Werb et al‘s article on international government surveillance systems. Carpenter et al’s article on SIDS and bed sharing remained popular for the third month in a row.  Other newly-published papers in the top ten include Vandenplas et al‘s clinical insight on the relationship between asthma and cleaning agents, and Kalil et al’s review of hospital-acquired pneumonia. […]

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Large medical research funders committed to open access publishing

But smaller medical charities, although keen, fear impact on budgets and funded researchers. Large medical research funding bodies are fully committed to open access publishing. But although smaller charitable funders back the principle, they worry about the impact open access will have on their budgets and their funded researchers, reveals a qualitative study published in […]

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