The journals of the AMA. From cooperation to consortium.

As of Sept 1, 1986, JAMA and the nine specialty journals* published by the American Medical Association (AMA) formally began to function as an editorial consortium. In succinct terms, this means that a manuscript rejected by one journal of the consortium for reasons of priority or unsuitability for that journal's readership may, with the author's agreement, be forwarded expeditiously for consideration by another AMA journal. The manuscript will be accompanied by the reviews obtained by the first editor, which should shorten the editorial review process appreciably the second time around. Several principles of functioning of the consortium are worth emphasizing to characterize its purpose: Because of the exigence of the review process, only a fraction of the manuscripts submitted to any AMA journal are accepted for publication. Some are rejected because of flows in scientific quality. They are returned to the authors, accompanied by comments and recommendations, which may help