The JIDC was created in 2007 to provide a means for researchers, doctors, and other medical professionals in developing nations to exchange information about human, veterinary, and environmental infectious diseases emerging or re-emerging in developing nations. The bulk of the information contained in the JIDC consists of research papers, abstracts, notes, and reviews covering all aspect of medicine, from diagnostic information, to prescribing and prognosis. The Journal is also peer-reviewed, with a strong commitment to maintaining a high standard of ethics. Though largely intended to be a means of exchanging research information with other medical professionals, the JIDC is open to the public, allowing anyone with an interest in infectious disease access to its extensive library of research.

The JIDC’s Mentoring System

Another critical aspect of the Journal of Infection in Developing Countries is its Mentoring System. Designed to ensure that the information contained in the journal is of an acceptably high standard, the mentoring system allows editors working for the JIDC to offer information above and beyond that offered by editors of most other scientific journals. This can include everything from where to obtain high-quality materials (including research-quality strains of certain diseases, or breeds of lab animals) to suggesting potential collaborators that may be interested in helping with certain facets of the research being conducted. This allows for more thorough analyses to be performed, which has the triple effect of both providing more information on the research topic, increasing the likelihood that the resulting papers will be published, and possibly even encouraging more widespread interest in the subject.

With situations like infectious disease in developing nations, widespread interest can be the difference between an effective drug or vaccine, and an epidemic. The Mentoring System raises the standard of infectious disease research across the board.

Medicine Magazine is, much as it’s name implies, essentially a magazine devoted to medicine at its heart. Unlike other magazine-style publications geared towards providing health information, however, it generally contains detailed, serious medical articles from health professionals and researchers. Despite this somewhat formal angle, however, it is ultimately designed to educate the public about their health.

Therefore, it presents an easy-to-understand format with the look of any other magazine. It is notable for being one of the first consumer magazines to provide this sort of information, as opposed to other widely-available publications at the time. These tended to either intersperse serious medical information with advertisements and editorials on other subjects (like child rearing, fashion trends, celebrities, and other articles commonly found in commercial women’s or entertainment magazines), or be intended for medical professionals and academics to read, and thus very difficult to understand for a layman.

Medicine Magazine’s Format

The magazine looks, at first blush, like almost any other consumer magazine, featuring colorful cover photography and bold headlines in eye-catching colors. However, the content inside provides a serious and rather in-depth look at not only pharmaceutical, epidemiological, and public health information, but covers other health concerns like preventative medicine, long-term management of conditions like allergies, asthma, or COPD, and how to protect one’s family from things like unscrupulous medical practitioners, counterfeit medication, or prescribing errors.

Medicine Magazine also provides some additional content on its website in much the same format as the magazine itself, including breaking medical news, making it a very good resource for individuals or families unable to obtain the hard copy magazine in their area.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, created after the split of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, is responsible for leading the pharmacy profession in the United Kingdom (with the exception of Ireland). In itself, it is not a regulatory body, or responsible for policing pharmacists and their businesses, existing mainly to provide education and support the professional interests of the pharmacists with memberships in the RPS. It should be noted; however, that membership with the RPS is not required to become a pharmacist in the UK, though being a member carries some distinct advantages.

Publications by the RPS

The Society puts out several highly-regarded reference books, including the British National Formulary. This reference guide is essentially a compendium of prescribing and pharmacology information, widely used by doctors and other professionals with the ability to prescribe medications, and is particularly useful in that it includes comprehensive information on all medications available through the National Health Service. They also put out the British National Formulary for Children, a similar resource to the British National Formulary, but with an emphasis on pediatric medicine and prescribing information for babies and children. They also publish Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference, which is a similar (but more comprehensive) resource to the British National Formulary. Martindale includes information for drugs used worldwide, making it of particular use to doctors and academics communicating across national borders.

The RPS is also responsible for numerous online publications, including MedicinesComplete, a collection of pharmaceutical information geared towards pharmacists, doctors, and other medical professionals. PJOnline is another such publication, with content geared towards and driven by the pharmacist members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.