The first ten years of the Journal of the Malta College of Family Doctors 2012-2022 : a review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since 1990 the Malta College of Family Doctors (MCFD) has regularly published a journal under different names: ‘It-Tabib tal-Familja’ (1990-2000), ‘The Family Physician - It-Tabib tal-Familja’ (2000- 2004), ‘Maltese Family Doctor’ (2005-2010) and the ‘Journal of the Malta College of Family Doctors (JMCFD)’ (since 2012).

OBJECTIVE: This review of the issues published of the JMCFD during 2012-2022 was undertaken to study not only the dates and numbers of issues but also issue themes, article types and topics and author specialities/grades.

METHOD: Information regarding all JMCFD issues published between 2012 and 2022 was gathered and inserted into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to enable scrutiny of the content by quantitative and qualitative analysis.

RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-eight articles were published in the twenty-four issues of the JMCFD that came out during 2012-22. While the themes of all issues were related to family medicine, several of them also focused on certain topics, with one third tackling education. Research articles made up 29% of all articles, while family medicine was the most popular topic (46%). Most of the 235 authors were males (62%) and family doctors (54%).

CONCLUSION: The JMCFD prioritises publication of submitted / peer-reviewed articles to focus on quality over quantity, while maintaining its focus on family medicine in general and education in particular. Besides serving as a source of information useful for family doctors in their practices, the journal provides the opportunity to family doctors, other specialists and trainee doctors to submit their research for consideration towards publication in a peer-reviewed family medicine journal.