Bulletin of the History of Medicine

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The Bulletin publishes scholarly articles spanning the social, cultural, and scientific aspects of the history of medicine worldwide. Articles are based on historical research in primary sources grounded in the robust secondary literature in the history of medicine. Article submissions should clearly make critical interpretations and place the story in historical context. The Bulletin subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The Bulletin does not publish material that is available elsewhere, in any language, at the time of its publication in the journal, or material for which we must acknowledge permission to another publisher. We regularly publish articles that later appear as chapters in books, but the journal and its publisher, The Johns Hopkins University Press, hold the copyright, and the book publisher must request permission to reprint. Publication of the journal article must antedate publication of the book.

All new manuscripts must be submitted electronically at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bhm.
Authors should have no more than two manuscripts under review at any given time.

Conflicts of Interest: Authors are responsible for informing the editors of any institutional or organizational funding they have received for research related to the subject of the article.

The Wellcome Trust has changed its access policy concerning research articles that have been funded by the Trust. The new policy which became effective on January 1, 2021 can be found at: wellcome.org/grant-funding/guidance/open-access-guidance/open-access-policy.

Authors employed by NIH: The publisher and editors of the Bulletin understand that authors employed by NIH are obligated to post their articles in PMC. The Bulletin uses a two-step process in order to ensure that our authors can comply with this mandate. As is the case for most federal employee authors, the Bulletin cannot hold copyright of the article.

1. Upon acceptance of an article by the Bulletin, the author should post a copy of the final manuscript of the essay to PMC specifying a 12-month embargo. The essay must be accompanied by the NIH publishing agreement and manuscript cover sheet and the Johns Hopkins University Press publishing agreement for U.S. Government employees, available from the editorial office. Copies of these documents should also be forwarded to the editorial office. Please note: the manuscript version of the essay is to be submitted to PMC in order for our authors to be in compliance, but the final PDF of the published essay is the version that will ultimately circulate on PMC.
2. The BHM editorial office will take responsibility for posting the PDF of the final, published version of the article by the end of the 12-month embargo period, whereupon PMC will ignore the previously submitted unedited manuscript version of the essay. PMC will contact the author to confirm his or her permission to post the PDF version.

Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission

• BHM manuscripts should not exceed 12,000 words (including endnotes). Manuscripts over the word limit will not be considered.
• Double-space your manuscript: text, notes, and quotations.
• Use the same type size and font for all material.
• Quotations of more than six typed lines should be indented from the left margin and typed in a block format (double-spaced).
• Use American spelling.
• Dates should be written as, for example, “June 7, 2010.”
• To answer general questions about style and usage in BHM, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition; CMS).

Notes

• BHM requires numbered endnotes without a bibliography (See the CMS, 16th ed.).
• Document fully. BHM prefers to identify the source of each separate quotation with its own note; please do not bundle citations into a single note at the end of the paragraph. Please note that BHM requires inclusive page numbers for book chapters in edited collections and for all journal articles, in addition to page numbers for direct quotations. BHM uses abbreviations for journal names. For books and journals, follow the Bulletin examples given below; for more complex references, follow CMS.

Remember to provide:
Full first names and middle initial(s) for authors and editors
Subtitles of books and articles
Full names of foreign journals cited
Name of the publisher for books published after 1900
For newspaper articles, the author, title of article, and page numbers if available.
Exact and inclusive page numbers for all quotations

• The second and succeeding citations of references should refer back to the first full citation.

Citation Examples

1. Michael Worboys, Spreading Germs: Disease Theories and Medical Practice in Britain, 1865–1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 81. [Book with page number for direct quotation]

2. Stephen Palmer, “Central American Encounters with Rockefeller Public Health, 1914–1921,” in Close Encounters of Empire: Writing the Cultural history of U.S.–Latin American Relations, ed. Catherine LeGrand, Gilbert Joseph, and Ricardo Salvatore (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1999), 311–32, quotation on 320. [Chapter in edited book with inclusive page numbers and page number for direct quotation]

3. Alexandra Stern, “Making Better Babies: Public Health and Race Betterment in Indiana, 1920–1935,” Amer. J. Public Health 90 (2002): 742–52, quotation on 751. [Journal article with inclusive page nos. and page no. of direct quotation.]

4. Ibid., 750.

5. Palmer, “Central American Encounters” (n. 2), 312. [Short form for previously cited item]

6. James Smith, “Public Health Experiments,” in LeGrand, Joseph, and Salvatore, Close Encounters (n. 2), 100–134. [Chapter in previously cited book]

7. Lauren Nauta, “Medical Development in New Jersey” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2006). [Dissertation]

Illustrations

• Illustrations are printed in black and white only. Photographs may be sent to the editorial office as glossy black-and-white 5” x 7” prints (do not send photos in color), or uploaded in TIFF or EPS formats. Halftones (art with any shades of grey) should be 266–300 dpi; line art, 900–1200 dpi. Do not use Word, PDF, or GIF files for illustrations.
• Indicate the approximate placement of all illustrations in the text. Provide captions for all tables and figures. Captions should include credit to the original sources.

Permissions

• You will need to provide copies of letters granting permission to reprint illustrations.
• Unpublished theses present a particular problem. If you are quoting more than five sentences from such an unpublished work, please provide a letter granting permission from the author of the thesis or from the sponsoring university.

Uploading Your Manuscript

• At this time, ScholarOne cannot upload Word 2007 documents. Please save your manuscript as a Word 1997–2003 document before submitting.
• Please make sure to remove any identifying information (name, university, etc.) from the manuscript itself, as BHM reviews are double blind. Author acknowledgments are useful for the editorial office, but can also reveal the author’s institution or identity; therefore, please upload your acknowledgments in a separate file, selecting the file designation “Title Page” on ScholarOne Manuscripts.
• Please supply a required summary of 150 or fewer words with your paper.
• Please provide the required 4 to 8 keywords for indexing purposes.

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice page.

Peer Review Policy

The Bulletin of the History of Medicine publishes scholarly articles spanning the social, cultural, and scientific aspects of the history of medicine worldwide. Articles are based on historical research in primary sources grounded in the robust secondary literature in the history of medicine. The Bulletin does not publish material that is available elsewhere, in any language, at the time of its publication in the journal, or material for which we must acknowledge permission to another publisher. We regularly publish articles that later appear as chapters in books, but the journal and its publisher, The Johns Hopkins University Press, hold the copyright, and the book publisher must request permission to reprint. Publication of the journal article must antedate publication of the book. In addition to offering new information based on scholarly historical research in primary sources, authors are expected to make critical interpretations and to place their narratives in a suitable historical and historiographic context. Authors must explain how their contribution fits in with the existing history of medicine literature on the topic at hand.  Each article submitted for publication is assessed first by the editors (to make sure that it is a research article, and not a general overview of a subject), and then, if the article seems appropriate for the journal, by 3-4 historians expert in the particular area covered by the article. The journal utilizes a strict double-blind review process. If revisions are requested, the editors will decide which or all of the original reviewers to send the revised paper for re-reviewing. The approximate time between submission to initial decision is 4 months.

Dear xxxxxxx:

I am writing to request permission to reprint the illustration titled "xxxx." It appeared on page xx of (book or journal title), edited by xxxxx, in (year).This illustration is to appear as originally published [or with changes or deletions as noted] in "YOUR ARTICLE'S TITLE," by AUTHOR'S NAME, which the Johns Hopkins University Press is currently preparing for publication. This article is scheduled to be published in the MONTH, YEAR, issue of the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, in a press run of about 1,750 copies.I am requesting nonexclusive world rights to use this illustration in this journal in all languages and for all editions, in print and online, in all retrieval systems now or ever invented. Full acknowledgment will be given in the journal. Please sign below and return one copy of this letter to me to indicate your consent.If you don't hold the copyright to xxxx, or if I must seek permission from another source, please note the fact below. Should it be necessary for me to seek permission elsewhere, any information you could provide to help me contact the proper party would be greatly appreciated.Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

The above request for permission to reprint is approved on the conditions specified below and on the understanding that full credit will be given to the source. The acknowledgment should read as follows:

Approved by:

Date:

Announcement from the Publisher

We have recently expanded the rights granted to contributors in our standard permissions agreement by allowing authors to include their articles in institutional depositories. Previously, the Press had restricted use to personal or departmental databases or on-line sites.

The change recognizes the important role institutions play in the scholarly communication process. It seems reasonable that the scholarship produced by faculty members should be made available to others within that same institution which, after all/ is providing either direct or indirect support.

The full text of the section that outlines author's rights is reproduced below. The new language is in point 4.

Rights of the Author: You have the following nonexclusive rights: (1) to use the Article in your own teaching activities; (2) to publish the Article, or permit its publication, as a part of any book you may write; (3) to include the Article in your own personal or departmental database or on-line site; (4) to include the article in your institutional database provided the database does not directly compete with either the Johns Hopkins University Press or Project Muse,is non-commercial, is institution-specific and not a repository that is discipline-based and/or accepts contributions from outside the institution. For use (4), you agree to request prior permission from the Press.

For all rights granted in this paragraph, you agree to credit the Press as publisher and copyright holder.

Special Issues

The Editors welcome proposals for special issues of the Bulletin that address themes of interest to the Bulletin's wide-ranging readership—themes that go beyond a narrow time or place or topic and offer a rich array of perspectives and ideas. Successful special issues include a substantial introduction, written by the Guest Editor(s), that orients readers to the significance of the topic and situates the essays in the volume in a broad historiography of medicine, health, and healing.

A special issue can accommodate up to 10 articles, each with a maximum of 12,000 words of text (including footnotes). All special issue manuscripts are treated with the same protocol as regular Bulletin submissions: all manuscripts are sent out for peer review, where each essay is assessed by three external reviewers. (Please note: peer review will not commence until all special issue essays have been submitted.) The Editors make the final decision about publication but will consult with the Guest Editors as needed. A draft of the introduction may be reviewed by the Editors or sent to one or two scholars for comments and suggestions for improvement. Special issues are usually published approximately 12–18 months after manuscripts have been received. If, after peer review, only a few articles are accepted (~3), they can be published as a special section within a regular issue of the journal and include an abbreviated introduction. If fewer than three articles are accepted, they can be published in the Bulletin as regular articles.

Proposals should include: the names of the Guest Editor(s), a description and rationale for the issue (2-3 pp.), and a list of potential contributors and the titles and abstracts of their articles. The description and rationale should explain why the topic is (or should be) of interest to a broad array of historians of medicine. Proposals should be sent to the Editors at bhm@jhmi.edu.

Special Sections

A Bulletin special section can accommodate 3 articles, each with a maximum of 12,000 words of text (including footnotes), organized around a theme of interest to the journal’s readership. A short introduction should introduce the special section. All manuscripts are treated with the same protocol as regular Bulletin submissions: all manuscripts are sent out for peer review, where each essay is assessed by three external reviewers (peer review will not commence until all essays have been submitted). The Editors make the final decision about publication but will consult with the Guest Editors as needed. A draft of the introduction may be reviewed by the Editors or sent to one or two scholars for comments and suggestions for improvement. If fewer than three articles are accepted, they can be published in the Bulletin as regular articles.

Proposals should include: the names of the Guest Editor(s), a description and rationale for the section, and a list of potential contributors and the titles and abstracts of their articles. The description and rationale should explain why the topic is (or should be) of interest to a broad array of historians of medicine. Proposals should be sent to the Editors at bhm@jhmi.edu.

Forums

Forums can accommodate approximately 4-6 shorter essays (3,000-4,000 words, including footnotes). A Forum should be organized around a recognizable and coherent theme for which a Guest Editor should take responsibility (including an open call, if applicable). This flexible format allows for academic perspectives but also first-person perspectives. A short introduction should introduce the Forum. Forum pieces will not be subject to external peer review, but will be assessed by the Editors/Editorial Board. Editors make the final decision about publication but will consult with the Guest Editor(s) as needed. A draft of the introduction may be reviewed by the Editors or sent to one or two scholars for comments and suggestions for improvement.

Proposals should include: the names of the Guest Editor(s), a description and rationale for the Forum, and a list of potential contributors and essays. The description and rationale should explain why the topic is (or should be) of interest to a broad array of historians of medicine. Proposals should be sent to the editors at bhm@jhmi.edu.

Editors

Jeremy A. Greene 
Alisha Rankin 
Gabriela Soto Laveaga

Associate Editor

Carolyn McLaughlin

Advisory Editorial Board

Emily Baum
Adam Biggs
Catherine Burns
Lara Freidenfelds
Pablo F. Gómez
Lisa Haushofer
Anne Kviem Lie
Raúl Necochea López
Akihito Suzuki
Carsten Timmermann
Dora Vargha
Jaipreet Virdi

AAHM Officers

Mary Fissell, President
Laura Hirshbein, Vice President
Sarah Handley-Cousins, Secretary
Scott Podolsky, Treasurer
Barron Lerner, Immediate Past President

AAHM Councilors

Hafeeza Anchrunum
Prinisha Badassy
Adam Biggs 
Mary Augusta Brazelton
Pratik Chakrabarti 
Deborah Doroshow
Kristen Ann Ehrenberger
Carrie Meyer
Projit Bihari Mukharji 
Kelly O’Donnell 
Abena Dove Osseo-Asare
Chris Willoughby

The Bulletin of the History of Medicine regularly publishes reviews of a broad range of scholarly books in our field. The Editors carefully select potential reviewers whose scholarship allows for informed critiques of the books under review; this includes established historians and advanced PhD-level graduate students. The Editors also welcome proposals for book reviews, but the journal will not consider submissions of completed reviews prior to assignment. Reviewers will be asked to declare any potential conflicts of interest. Please contact the editorial office at bhm@jhmi.edu to discuss book review proposals. 

Should you wish to be considered for a book review in the future, we would be happy to add you to our reviewer database. Please email a CV to the editorial office for consideration.

If you would like the Bulletin to review your book, please request that your publisher send a review copy to the editorial office below. Review copies received by the Johns Hopkins University Press office will be discarded.

The Editors
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
Johns Hopkins Institute of the History of Medicine
1900 East Monument Street, Rm. 306
Baltimore, MD 21205

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Association for Asian Studies
  • Bibliography of Asian Studies (Online), 1971-1992
• Clarivate Analytics
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  • Biological Abstracts (Online)
  • BIOSIS Previews
  • Current Contents
  • Web of Science
• Council for British Archaeology
  • British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography (Online)
• De Gruyter Saur
  • Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
  • IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
  • Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
• EBSCOhost
  • Academic Search Alumni Edition, 1/1/2003-
  • Academic Search Complete, 1/1/2003-
  • Academic Search Elite, 1/1/2003-
  • Academic Search Premier, 1/1/2003-
  • America: History and Life, 1/1/1963-
  • Biography Index: Past and Present (H.W. Wilson), vol.76, no.1, 2002-vol.84, no.3, 2010
  • Biological Abstracts (Online)
  • Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Mar.2002-
  • Current Abstracts, 1/1/2003-
  • Gender Studies Database, 1/1/1940-
  • General Science Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 2002/03-
  • General Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson), 4/15/2002-
  • Historical Abstracts (Online), 1/1/1963-
  • Library & Information Science Source, 4/1/1938-5/1/1939
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), 4/15/2002-
  • Public Affairs Index, 9/1/2003-
  • Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
  • SocINDEX, 7/1/1973-
  • SocINDEX with Full Text, 7/1/1973-
  • STM Source, 9/1/2006-
  • STM Source, 9/1/2006-
  • TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 1/1/2003-
  • Women's Studies International, 1/1/1940-
• Elsevier BV
  • EMBASE
  • Scopus, 1945-ongoing
• FRANCIS
• Gale
  • Academic ASAP, 03/2002-06/2017
  • Book Review Index Plus
  • Gale Academic OneFile
  • Gale Academic OneFile Select, 03/2002-
  • Gale General OneFile, 03/2002-
  • InfoTrac Custom, 3/2002-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
• H.W. Wilson
  • General Science Index, 2002/03-
• National Library of Medicine
  • PubMed
• OCLC
  • ArticleFirst, vol.64, no.1, 1990-vol.85, no.2, 2011
  • Electronic Collections Online, vol.70, no.1, 1996-vol.85, no.2, 2011
  • General Science Index, 2002/03-
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• ProQuest
  • Health & Medical Collection, 4/1/2003-
  • Health Research Premium Collection, 4/1/2003-
  • Hospital Premium Collection, 4/1/2003-
  • Medical Database, 4/1/2003-
  • MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
  • Periodicals Index Online
  • Professional ProQuest Central, 04/01/2003-
  • ProQuest 5000, 04/01/2003-
  • ProQuest 5000 International, 04/01/2003-
  • ProQuest Central, 04/01/2003-
  • Research Library, 04/01/2003-
  • Science Database, 04/01/2003-
  • SciTech Premium Collection
• Sage Publications, Inc.
  • Abstracts in Anthropology (Online)
• U.S. National Library of Medicine
  • MEDLINE

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• Abstracts of Mycology   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Chemical Abstracts (Print)   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index Medicus   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index to Scientific Reviews   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Inpharma Weekly   (Ceased)  (Print)
• International Nursing Index   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Numismatic Literature   (Ceased)  (Print)

Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.

0.8  (2024)
1.2 (Five-Year Impact Factor)
0.00069 (Eigenfactor™ Score)

Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor):
36 of 112 journals, in “History & Philosophy of Science”

© Clarivate Analytics 2025

Published quarterly

Readers include: Historians, physicians, nurses, archivists, curators, librarians, and others interested in the social, cultural, and scientific aspects of the history of medicine worldwide

Print circulation: 861

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American Association for the History of Medicine

The Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University

The Bulletin’s online syllabus archive in the history of medicine

A blog about teaching the history of medicine.

The Bulletin  provides blog posts on teaching resources in the history of medicine and maintains a syllabus archive at the blog, Recommended Dose at teachhistmed.com

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