Real voices, real change
These are the stories of lives transformed through the evidence-based research we publish, the practical tools and guidance we develop, and the global collaborations we curate.
A rich history with global impact
Since 1840, BMJ Group has supported health professionals in improving patient outcomes worldwide.
Today, as a global healthcare knowledge provider, our vision of helping to create a healthier world lies at the heart of everything we do.
For BMJ Group, impact means driving positive, measurable change across the entire healthcare ecosystem. It’s about enabling better healthcare outcomes by delivering the best available and most credible research and evidence-based policy guidelines. It’s also about fostering a skilled and supported workforce.
In essence, for our values-driven organisation, impact is about creating a ripple effect where better knowledge, supported health professionals, and accessible evidence of the highest standard work together to improve individual patient outcomes and the broader health systems worldwide.
A top 10 health policy influencer
With 7K new or updated health and social care policy documents and clinical guidelines citing research published by BMJ Group in 2023, we are among the top ten publishers influencing health policy and practice
A strong international presence
Five offices located in the UK, North America, India, and China
A reliable source
Nearly 11M visitors frequent our websites every month
A global reach
Over 10K institutions across the world currently have an active subscription to BMJ Group tools and resources
A world leader
The BMJ is the 3rd most cited journal across the Medicine, General & Internal category**
A privileged network
Working with 3.5M authors and peer reviewers across the world
Showing real-world impact through policy documents and clinical guidelines citations At BMJ Group
Showing real-world impact through policy documents and clinical guidelines citations
At BMJ Group, we focus on making a real-world impact through our publications. While scholarly influence is significant, we can see its value in real-world implications for policy and clinical guidelines and how it drives health and social care change.
According to credible data provided by BMJ Impact Analytics, in 2023, research papers published by BMJ Group were cited in over 7000 policy documents and clinical guidelines, directly improving clinical practice and how health and social care is provided.
This places us among the top ten most influential publishers on health and social care policy, outperforming many larger publishers in terms of our real-world impact.
Flour fortification with folic acid – a landmark decision for public health
The UK government has officially announced the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid, a transformative policy to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs) in newborns. This decision comes after years of advocacy and mounting scientific evidence supporting the measure as a cost-effective way to improve public health.
Experts like Professor Sir Nicholas Wald have been advocating for this policy. In a June 2024 opinion piece published in The BMJ, Wald argued that fully effective fortification could prevent up to 80% of NTDs, compared to the current approach of relying on individual supplementation, which reaches far fewer people.
This government announcement reflects the recommendations of numerous health experts and organisations, including the scientific consensus on the safety and efficacy of fortification.
Advocating for safer pharmaceutical marketing
Nearly 90% of teens and young adults who use social media say they use it to find information about their healthcare. However, as pharmaceutical marketers have shifted more and more of their budgets towards selling their products on social media, especially via paid influencers, the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation has lagged behind.
A new landmark legislation, The Protecting Patients from Deceptive Drug Ads Online Act, introduced by Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Braun (R-IN), directs the FDA to update and enforce its regulations for promoting prescription drugs on social media. It does this by focusing the agency’s attention specifically on deceptive or misleading communications by telehealth companies, social media influencers, and health providers.
This act is a direct result of the work of Generation Patient, led by its founder and BMJ patient advisor, Sneha Dave. This legislation was particularly noteworthy because it was heavily influenced by patient advocacy, especially from a young patient group. It’s not often that patients lead the charge for legislation like this.
