Some realities of present-day cardiologic journal publishing in the USA.

The types and quantities of cardiological publications in the USA have changed drastically in recent years. The small, independent medical publisher in the USA is vanishing. Medical publishers in the USA today primarily are parts of larger, nonmedical publishing corporations, and the nonmedical publications are affecting the medical publications. The 'throw-away' journals are increasing and their existence is diminishing the reading time available and advertising support provided to the peer-review subscription journals. The publication of symposia proceedings supported entirely by grants from single pharmaceutical or medical device companies in otherwise peer-review journals is increasing. It is better, in my view, for physicians not to exert efforts to discontinue this practice, which is here to stay, but to exert their influence to reduce excess bias and overstatement. The peer-review subscription journals, most of which are published by for-profit corporations, are the sources of our new medical information and the 'storehouse' of our knowledge. They need our strong support. They need to be published on acid-free paper which will not deteriorate, for they are the permanent record of our information. We need more editorial pages in the peer-review subscription journals so that more review and experimental-type articles can be published, and less pages in the 'throw-away' journals which diminish support available to the peer-review subscription journals.