Meeting the Evolving Needs of the Orthopaedic Community
In 1889, the first issue of Transactions of the American Orthopedic Association was published. As the precursor to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, this 26-page volume contained proceedings from the AOA’s 1887 and 1888 annual meetings, presenting what was, at the time, the leading edge of orthopaedic science and practice.
The way in which you practice orthopaedics today has advanced significantly since that inaugural volume was published, and JBJS has grown to meet your changing needs. The core Journal has expanded, adding new sections to reflect our evolving medical profession. Plus, we’ve added five new journal titles, allowing you to stay on top of the full scope of orthopaedic research and practice with JBJS.
We understand that many of you want information that is germane to your subspecialty. We make it easy for you to find the most relevant articles by perusing general-interest content or easily drilling down to content related to 12 subspecialties.
We also have enhanced the ways in which we bring you information through our interactive website (JBJS.org), where you can stay current with the latest science any time of the day, from any device. JBJS also gives you convenient ways to earn CME credits with gold-standard learning programs, rich media content (including videos and podcasts), career development services, and resources for authors, reviewers, and residents.
As you continue your career in orthopaedics, you can trust JBJS to always innovate and create compelling, convenient products that deliver the most relevant, evidence-based scientific information that will help you to enhance the quality of patient care.
Watch the evolution of JBJS products as you travel the timeline.
In 1889, the first Transactions of the American Orthopedic Association, encompassing the 1887 and 1888 annual meetings, are published in accordance with the AOA by-laws. Held at the Academy of Medicine New York.
The cover of The Journal has undergone not only design but title changes. Enjoy this journey through history.
The Annual Bibliography of Orthopaedic Surgery is an index of articles that have significant value to orthopaedic surgeons. Articles are chosen by an Advisory Committee made up of the American Orthopaedic Association and JBJS.
JBJS launched Orthopaedic Transactions to recognize the significant contributions of leading orthopaedic researchers and to make their articles available to a larger audience of peers who were not able to attend specialty conferences in person.
Under Dr. Curtiss, JBJS began to decrease the length of time from submission to publication. He had a lighter hand during line editing than his predecessors and started to accelerate deadlines for author responses to reviewer comments and corrected manuscripts.
To meet orthopaedists’ demand for review articles, JBJS moved from occasional review articles to regularly published articles that were planned in advance and edited in a more systematic way, resulting in a regular, high-quality special section.
The Journal is available for the first time in electronic format, a quarterly compact disc.
JBJS design has evolved over the years, reflecting our commitment to change as well as our digital presence.
As the Official Scientific Journal of AAOS, JBJS expanded its international reach and presence among AAOS members and orthopaedists worldwide.
The Deputy Editor workshop became a crucial component of publishing JBJS during Henry Cowell’s leadership as Editor-in-Chief.
During these workshops, Deputy Editors would gather together with reviewers, Associate Editors, and others to resolve disagreements around reviewers’ grades.
Dr. Cowell was intent on increasing the frequency of these workshops and using them to extend the Journal’s outreach among key stakeholders and enhance education on how to effectively critique manuscripts, helping to raise the bar for editorial excellence.
Dr. Cowell also prioritized continuing education for Journal staff, whether that meant training on new computer technologies or supporting senior staff membership in professional societies and participation in conferences.
Explore the way-back machine as we look at how JBJS evolved with the web, starting with the first website in 2001, being one of the first journals on the web.
The move to a new host increased the sophistication of JBJS’s offerings through a modern web presence seen here, which improved search, indexing, and reference functions. JBJS also benefited from alliances with other HighWire journals.
In October 2000, Dr. Heckman, Editor-in-Chief , and Dr. Poss, Deputy Editor for Electronic Media, penned a JBJS editorial in which they noted that “the rapid advent of the electronic age has shaken the foundations of the publishing industry and left all in a quandary, trying to identify strategies to survive and perhaps to thrive in a new paradigm where the dissemination of bountiful information is cheap, while the delivery of high-quality, peer-reviewed knowledge remains expensive.”
In an effort to meet the needs of this new age of scientific publishing and advance the Journal’s mission of presenting the most important new scientific knowledge to the orthopaedic community, JBJS partnered with HighWire Press of Stanford University to develop a new interactive website.
The new site enhanced the value of the Journal’s printed articles with the audio, video, and text capabilities of the Internet and allowed the Journal to supplement its monthly printed publication with real-time resources. The upgraded site featured:
Under Dr. Heckman’s tenure as Editor-in-Chief, JBJS enhanced the level of evidence published with clinical articles and implemented structured abstracts. During this time, JBJS also launched several new features, including “Orthopaedic Forum,” “Ethics in Practice,” “Evidence-Based Orthopaedics,” and “Specialty Update.”
The “Orthopaedic Forum” is designed to be a place where intriguing, provocative, or controversial new ideas are presented and discussed. It includes topics on health care policy, orthopaedic practice, and ethics, and presents interesting symposia from national orthopaedic meetings.
“Ethics in Practice” articles feature topics of benefit to both physicians and patients alike. Typically, each article includes a brief clinical vignette followed by a discussion of the ethical issues that were encountered and how they were addressed.
“Evidence-Based Orthopaedics” articles, published quarterly, feature summaries of the main points of 3 recent studies from the orthopaedic literature, followed by commentaries highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each study from an evidence-based perspective.“
Specialty Update” articles, published monthly, provide a comprehensive overview of the recent literature pertaining to major subspecialties in the field of orthopaedics.
JBJS CME products were created with busy orthopaedic surgeons in mind. Meeting CME requirements is a yearly task, and JBJS CME products help surgeons meet those requirements in a timely manner that works best with their schedule—anytime, anywhere.
JBJS offers Monthly, Quarterly, and Subspecialty/Topic-Specific Exams for surgeons to meet their CME and SAE requirements. Exams are released on a steady schedule, and are accessible at home, in the office, or on-the-go. Surgeons earn credits by completing exams based on recent peer-reviewed articles published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
Monthly exams contain 33-34 questions and are worth 5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™, making them the perfect options for surgeons looking for smaller amounts to complete steadily throughout the year.
Quarterly exams contain 100 questions and are worth 10 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Published every quarter, these time-intensive exams are great for surgeons who like to claim larger amounts of CME less frequently throughout the year.
Subspecialty- and Topic-specific exams—like the Pain Management CME and Clinical Summaries CME assessments—offer surgeons the opportunity to earn their credits while exploring topics tailored to their interests. These exams are worth a range of credits, and allow surgeons to build their knowledge while earning CME in areas in which they are most interested.
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
JBJS diversified its business and expanded its offerings by introducing the ability to earn CME credits, with examination questions based on JBJS content, at a time when recertification was becoming increasingly important in the orthopaedic community.
JBJS’s digital transformation accelerated with the launch of an interactive web site housed by HighWire Press, which indexed the entire JBJS archive. The processes for submissions and peer review were moved online as well, decreasing time from submission to publication.
JBJS started to move into the digital age in the 1980s, when staff began to use desktop computers and early-stage digital tools.
In 1996, The Journal debuted its first web page, which initially featured only the current issue’s table of contents. JBJS also began building an extensive CD/DVD library in the 1990s.
By the mid-2000s, JBJS became more digitally sophisticated. The Journal was now housed on HighWire Press, a more interactive site that offered new ways to view and search for articles going back to 1889.
The article submission and peer review processes also moved online, which helped to eliminate the need for laborious and time-consuming cut-and-paste work and decrease the time between submission and publication.
JBJS introduced a number of new journals during this period, including JBJS Case Connector, JBJS Essential Surgical Techniques, JBJS Reviews, and JBJS Open Access. The new journals were designed to increase the JBJS footprint and expand the delivery of high-quality orthopaedic content.
JBJS Case Connector launched in 2012, with Marc Swiontowski as Editor, and was envisioned as a way to improve the clinical usefulness of case reports. Through robust data mining, this valuable resource (now under the leadership of co-Editors Tom Bauer and Ron Lindsey) continues to provide unprecedented levels of connection among cases and assists orthopaedic surgeons in the search for precedents, associations, and trends in their efforts to improve patient care.
JBJS Essential Surgical Techniques also launched in 2012, under the editorial leadership of Ed Cheng and was designed to meet reader demand with step-by-step surgical videos. This video-based journal, featuring step-by-step demonstrations of orthopaedic procedures supported by evidence-based outcomes, offers a rich-media learning tool to residents and surgeons.
JBJS Reviews launched in 2013, with Tom Einhorn as Editor. It was designed to meet reader demand for comprehensive literature reviews, particularly among residents and surgeons seeking recertification. Comprehensive review articles, written by recognized authorities in the field, provide the reader with expert insights into orthopaedic research and clinical experience across 12 subspecialty areas.
JBJS Open Access launched in 2016 under the leadership of co-Editors Robin Richards and Eng Lee as a way to expand the ability of the organization to publish basic-science and clinical findings, as well as new research approaches, that have the potential of impacting musculoskeletal disease and injury care worldwide.
An upgraded website (“the Hub”) launched in 2017, allowing users to search across all JBJS journals, as well as webinars and other educational content, from a single location.
This course contains 15 individual modules designed to prepare the learner for the American Board of Orthopaedics Recertification Examinations. Each module includes a pretest, video presentation, and posttest.
JBJS received accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and introduced the JBJS Recertification Course, which prepares learners for the American Board of Orthopaedics Recertification Examinations. The course has evolved over time. See full product.
This special report, The 2013 Boston Marathon: Preparing for and Recovering From a Mass Casualty Event, focuses on how multidisciplinary teams prepared for and responded to the Boston bombings – and helped survivors rebuild their lives.
JBJS JOPA covers all orthopaedic subspecialties for PAs and NPs and includes two top-notch peer-reviewed journals—JBJS JOPA & JBJS Reviews, plus unlimited journal-based CME.
JBJS Complete includes 24 print issues of the flagship and access to JBJS.org. An all-inclusive journal website which provides all that JBJS has to offer: scientific and clinical research, review articles, case reports, surgical technique videos, and peer-reviewed content for orthopaedic PA’s.
JBJS is excited to introduce the worldwide orthopaedic community to the new JBJS.org website. The website has been the focus for readers to review the current issue, access content not included in print, and perform searches of JBJS content.
JBJS Clinical Classroom is a leading adaptive learning tool in orthopaedics. It uses a biological model of adaptive learning technology, observes how you learn, and then individualizes content with a precise focus on
knowledge, skill, and confidence deficits.
JBJS Clinical Classroom is a leading adaptive learning platform created for orthopaedic surgeons and residency programs. The algorithm creates a unique learning path for users and allows for claiming CME.
JBJS Essential Surgical Techniques (EST) and JBJS Open Access (OA) are now archived in PubMed Central (PMC), the national repository of free full-text biomedical literature, and discoverable on PubMed.
Dr. Mark Miller realized that there were very few textbooks or courses that offered concise and thorough reviews of orthopaedic topics. This was the genesis of Review of Orthopaedics, a best seller and Dr. Miller subsequently created the Miller Review Course, which is now in its twenty-fifth year.
The Critical Issues in Education Channel within JBJS Open Access, which is managed in conjunction with the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA), publishes articles covering major issues in the education of orthopaedic medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty.
JBJS All-Access CME is designed to help busy orthopaedic surgeons meet their yearly CME requirements. With access to all journal-based CME and SAE exams, as well as JBJS Clinical Classroom, orthopaedic surgeons can meet their goals while building their knowledge.
The all-inclusive bundle includes six JBJS journals including 24 print issues of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, unlimited CME activities, as well as annual access to JBJS Clinical Classroom, an adaptive learning tool with more than 4,000 assessment questions across 11 subspecialties.
Sign up to receive your free JBJS 2020 Special Issue—a compilation of the most-read articles. You get twelve articles across six JBJS publications in this special issue.
