Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine

The "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine" ("JOM"), first published in 1967, provides a source for publication of studies in nutritional and orthomolecular medicine. There is controversy surrounding the journal, as the validity of the field of orthomolecular medicine is not widely accepted by the mainstream pharmaceutical based medical industry.Fact|date=September 2007 As of January 2007, the "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine" was not included among journals selected by the U.S. National Library of Medicine for inclusion in their Medline PubMed database, although it is a valid search term for articles. [(January 2007.) [ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/online/journals/ljiweb.pdf "List of journals indexed for Medline, 2007."] (Website). U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Insitutes of Health. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.] [ [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/jsel.html "Fact sheet: Medline journal section."] . (Website.) U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Insitutes of Health. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.]

History

In 1967, physicians interested in megavitamin therapy started to generate their own medical journals. Dr. Abram Hoffer had previously published about 150 articles and books, but found it increasingly difficult to publish reports on nutrition and medicine. Hoffer claims that the orthomolecular medicine content was not acceptable to mainstream medical journals because of the clash with the APA over orthomolecular psychiatry and what Hoffer alleges to be extended conflicts of interest on the part of the APA. [ [http://www.us.oup.com/pdf/0195140710_01.pdf "Megavitamin Therapy"] Dead link|date=September 2007 In Reply To Task Force Report on Megavitamin and Orthomolecular Therapy in Psychiatry. Canadian Schizophrenia Foundation. August 1976] [Abram Hoffer, Adventures in Psychiatry: The Scientific Memoirs of Dr. Abram Hoffer, KOS Publishing, Toronto, 2005 [http://www.searpubl.ca/Adventures_review.pdf Review] .]

The "Journal of Schizophrenia" followed the formation of the Canadian Schizophrenia Foundation and the American Schizophrenia Association in the United States. Hoffer and Dr. Humphry Osmond, who developed the theory that schizophrenics suffer due to endogenous production of an epinephrine (adrenaline) based hallucinogen, were called before the Committee of Ethics of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to explain why they were publicizing a treatment, called xenobiotic psychiatry by Dr. Bernard Rimland, which was considered outside of standard psychiatric practice. [ [http://www.orthomed.org/jom/jomhist.htm Article by Dr. Hoffer] , accessed 23 Sept 2006.] Hoffer claims that one of the assistant editors of the APA's "American Journal of Psychiatry" announced that he would never allow any article from the orthomolecular medicine group to appear in his journal.

"After 1968, the name was changed to "Schizophrenia", and from 1971 the name was again changed to "Orthomolecular Psychiatry" to reflect the increased scope of this type of therapy to other mental illnesses. In 1986 the publication underwent a final change to the more inclusive "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine" and is presently published as such today." [ [http://www.orthomed.org/jom/jomlist.htm Archives] . Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. accessed online 28 November 2007]

Current status

Though repeated applications have been made, the "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine" has not been indexed by MEDLINE, a database of biomedical literature. Journals are selected for MEDLINE by the National Library of Medicine, which uses criteria including scope and coverage, quality of content, quality of editorial work, intended audience, quality of the layout, printing, graphics, and illustrations. [ [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/jsel.html National Library of Medicine page on journal selection for MEDLINE] , accessed 23 Sept 2006.] However, exclusion from MEDLINE has been interpreted by those associated with "JOM" as confirmation of an alleged bias [Hickey S. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/332/7555/1444#135890 Censorship of medical journals.] Rapid Responses to: Lexchin J, Light DW. [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7555/1444 Commercial influence and the content of medical journals] . BMJ 2006; 332: 1444-1447] against orthomolecular medicine. [Saul, Andrew W. (August/September 2006.) [http://www.townsendletter.com/AugSept2006/medline0806.htm "Editorial: Medline bias."] "Townsend Letter". Retrieved on 2007-09-22.]

Notes

See also

* Orthomolecular medicine
* Orthomolecular psychiatry
* Abram Hoffer

External links

* [http://www.orthomed.org/jom/jom.html Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine website]