An Elite Minority: The Medical Journal of Australia's Place in Australian and Global Publishing

Abstract

Scientific publishing is small but significant in Australia. One publication, the <i>Medical Journal of Australia</i> (<i>MJA</i>), has survived over 100 years. The journal provides a venue to promote particularly Australian research. Its editors have been erudite, sometimes eccentric, characters championing excellence in writing and grammar, so much so that the <i>MJA</i> trained Australia's most renowned publisher's editor, Beatrice Davis. The journal sought to replicate the style and tone of British medical journals and for much of the twentieth century the editorial offices operated somewhat like a gentleman's club. Yet, the <i>MJA</i> has contributed much more than medical research to Australia; it has offered a degree of constancy and change, supported a community of well-meaning scholars and provided a basis for the development of Australian editorial standards.