''Medical History'' is a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

covering the

history of medicine The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. More than just histo ...

. It was established in 1957. The journal is edited by Sanjoy Bhattacharya and is published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

. The journal is associated with the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health, the Asian Society for the History of Medicine, and the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's Global Health Histories initiative.

History

''Medical History'' was founded in 1957, published by William Dawson, and was the official journal of four medical societies; the Cambridge University History of Medicine Society, The Norwegian Society for the History of Medicine, The Scottish Society of the History of Medicine, and the Osler Club of London. Its first editor was William John Bishop, the then librarian of the Wellcome Historical Medical Library. Following Bishop's death in 1961, Noël Poynter became the journal's editor. In 1965, ''Medical History'' became the official publication of the newly formed British Society for the History of Medicine (BSHM), an umbrella organisation encompassing the smaller societies. The last issue affiliated with the BSHM was in 1973. From 1974, the "BSHM" no longer appeared on the title page. Edwin Sisterton Clarke took over as editor following Poynter's retirement in 1973. In 1980,

Vivian Nutton Vivian Nutton FBA (born 21 December 1943) is a British historian of medicine who serves as Emeritus Professor at the UCL Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London, and current President of the Centre for the Study of Medi ...

and W. F. Bynum jointly took over as editors. From 1 December 1980 the journal was administered by Science History Publications Ltd., in Buckinghamshire. The following year, a new cover was designed by Peter Voce. In 2000 Ann Hardy replaced Nutton as editor and Harold Cook took over from Bynum in 2002. The

Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL (2000-2012) was a research and teaching centre within University College London dedicated to the history of medicine. It was created through a grant from the Wellcome Trust, on the mode ...

at University College London, became fully responsible for the journal from 2005, when it also became available online via

PubMed Central PubMed Central (PMC) is a free digital repository that archives open access full-text scholarly articles that have been published in biomedical and life sciences journals. As one of the major research databases developed by the National Center f ...

. In 2006 the journal became the official journal of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health. Nutton noted in 2007, that the journal had gone through four designs of its cover, several changes of its subtitle and "most striking" was the variations in the editorial board, described as "largely dormant and partly fictional" in the 1970s. Later, professional medical historians, women and people from abroad would replace the mainly retired medical men.

References

External links

* {{Official website, 1=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=MDH
''Medical History'' Archives
History of medicine journals Cambridge University Press academic journals Publications established in 1957 English-language journals Quarterly journals