Medicine Today is a monthly, independent, peer reviewed journal of clinical medicine written and refereed by doctors for Australian general practitioners, specialists and other health professionals. Its content is clinically focused, practical, evidence-based and well illustrated, designed to meet the needs of busy doctors.

We aim to provide general practitioners with credible, reliable and interesting clinical material to help them:

sharpen their skills in diagnosis and management in their day-to-day practice
improve standards of patient care
review and update their knowledge of best practice medicine.
Our content is also aimed at specialists reading outside their own field to help them stay informed about advances in general medicine.

History
Medicine Today, formerly Modern Medicine of Australia, has been providing medical practitioners in Australia with authoritative clinical review material each month for more than 65 years.

Modern Medicine was first published in the USA in 1932. In 1957, the then publisher of the US edition, The New York Times, began publishing Modern Medicine in Australia. Over time the title was expanded to 13 editions, in seven languages, circulating to 408,000 physicians in 12 countries.

The current proprietors, Tony Scott and Judy Passlow, have been associated with Modern Medicine of Australia since 1979 and purchased the journal from its then owner, Adis Press, in 1985.

At the time the trademark Modern Medicine was owned by a US publishing house and franchised around the world. By the late 1990s the proprietors of the Australian edition had responded to the needs of its readership and were commissioning and publishing Australian content rather than the international mix the franchise had provided. As a consequence it was no longer financially viable for the publishers to continue to pay the required royalty to publish under the Modern Medicine name, and the decision was taken to publish the Australian content under the Medicine Today name in January 2000.

September 2017 marked Modern Medicine/Medicine Today's 60th year of publishing in Australia. The journal celebrated with the publication of a special 60th Anniversary issue including reflections from the Emeritus Chair of the Board of Honorary Consultants, Professor Peter Castaldi; the current Chair, Professor Kim Oates; and Judy Passlow, the Publisher/Editorial Director.

Frequency
Medicine Today is published monthly, with 11 or 12 issues published annually.

Editorial independence
The editorial independence and high clinical standards held by Medicine Today are of paramount importance to the publishers and are guarded rigorously. The entire content is subjected to a peer review process of the quality usually reserved for scientific (rather than review) publications.

To ensure Medicine Today's editorial content is totally independent, credible and accurate:

the Board of Honorary Consultants monitors the clinical standards and content of the journal
members of the Board and senior consultants provide author recommendations
all submitted articles undergo our thorough peer review process
all authors are required to disclose any commercial or financial association that might be seen to be a conflict of interest, using the standard disclosure form of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest), and these disclosures are published at the end of each article
articles that have any known input from pharmaceutical companies, public relations firms or other commercial entities are not accepted.
How we source content
Medicine Today's editorial content covers a diverse range of subjects of interest to medical practitioners. Most of the content is commissioned in house after consultation with members of the Board of Honorary Consultants and senior consultants. The authors of our articles are highly experienced, senior clinicians who are well recognised in their field of medicine.

The opinions expressed in the editorial content are those of the commissioned authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors, the Board of Honorary Consultants or the publishers.

Peer review process
Every article published in Medicine Today has undergone our rigorous single-blind peer review process to ensure the content is accurate, credible, up to date and independent. At least two specialists in the relevant field of medicine and one general practitioner review each article before it is accepted for publication.

Reviewers provide instructive comments, suggestions and recommendations on the suitability for publication of each article. All feedback is sent to the authors, who may be required to revise the text or respond to specific comments before their article is accepted for publication.

The Board of Honorary Consultants
Medicine Today's Board of Honorary Consultants has a vital role in maintaining the journal's high editorial standards. More than 50 key specialists and general practitioners covering the major fields of medicine are members of the Board, led by the current Chair, Professor Kim Oates. The list of Board members can be viewed here. The Board has a major and active role in reviewing articles and providing suggestions for reviewers, authors and content. The Board also meets formally three times a year to discuss editorial and publishing issues.