About the Journal

The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) is a peer-reviewed journal that aims to advance the knowledgebase and practice of health sciences librarianship.  It is a platinum open access journal (free to read, free to publish) that is financially supported by members of the Medical Library Association (MLA). JMLA is the official journal of MLA, and its editors are appointed by MLA’s Board of Directors. However, JMLA retains editorial independence from the Association’s volunteer leadership and MLA staff. All editorial decisions are made independently at the sole discretion of JMLA’s editorial team.

Focus and Scope

JMLA welcomes the submission of any original manuscript that seeks to improve the practice of health sciences librarianship; to extend the knowledgebase on the organization, delivery, use, and impact of information on health care, biomedical research, and health professionals’ education; or to describe important developments in or the history of the health sciences library profession and related fields. As part of JMLA’s Equity Initiative, we issue a continuing call for manuscripts that address social injustices; speak to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workforce and among our user communities; share critical perspectives on health sciences librarianship; or are authored by individuals who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color.

Manuscripts are reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that they have not been published, submitted, or accepted for publication by another peer-reviewed journal. Presentation of a paper at a conference or inclusion of a preliminary report in published proceedings is not considered prior publication provided that the submitted manuscript is substantially more complete than the initial report and any duplicative material is kept to a minimum. Specific cases should be referred to the editor.

Material published on the JMLA site and issues prior to 2016 are also available through PubMed Central (PMC). 

Peer Review Process

JMLA uses a double-anonymous peer review process in which the names of authors are not revealed to reviewers and the names of reviewers are not revealed to authors. Authors may provide the names and email addresses of up to five potential reviewers who are well qualified to comment on the work and would not have a conflict of interest with the authors (e.g., not direct colleagues or recent co-authors), which should be entered into the "Comments for the Editor" box during manuscript submission. Authors may also identify specific individuals who should not review their manuscript. Taking these suggestions into consideration, the editor typically assigns three reviewers to each manuscript. Reviewers are asked to use JMLA's peer reviewer guidelines to inform their comments and recommendation. JMLA aims to complete the review process and provide feedback to authors within 6-8 weeks of submission.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content. Our publisher, the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, abides by the Budapest Open Access Initiative definition of Open Access.

It is our mission to support a greater global exchange of knowledge by making the research published in this journal open to the public and reusable under the terms of a Creative Commons CC-BY license.

There are no article processing charges, submissions fees, or any other costs required of authors to submit articles to or publish articles in this journal.

More details can be found on our open access policy page.

Self-Archiving Policy

JMLA fully embraces the freedom of authors to share their work as widely as they desire to meet their own objectives—whether to obtain pre-submission feedback, increase their readership, enhance the potential impact of their work, achieve professional recognition, or support the principles of research transparency and open science. More information can be found on our self-archiving policy page.

Data Sharing Policy

JMLA requires authors of Original Investigation, Case Report, and Special Paper articles to (1) place the de-identified data associated with the manuscript in a repository and (2) include a Data Availability Statement in the manuscript describing where and how the data can be accessed. More information can be found on our data sharing policy page.

Authorship

All persons designated as authors should meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)'s guidelines for determining authorship. Authorship can be changed at any point before manuscript acceptance. 

Print subscriptions

As of Vol. 111 No. 1 (January 2023), JMLA will no longer offer print copies of the journal.

Journal History

The JMLA is a continuation of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association (BMLA), beginning with v. 90, 2002. The BMLA began with n.s. v. 1 in 1911 as the successor to the Medical Library and Historical Journal (Association of Medical Librarians), v. 1–5, 1903–1907; the Journal of the Association of Medical Librarians, v. 1, 1902; and the Medical Libraries (Association of Medical Librarians), v. 1–5, 1898–1902 (official organ through 1901).