BMJ Christmas Edition

December 16, 2016 12:49 PM

Every year the British Medical Journal publishes a special Christmas edition.

• Dispelling the nice or naughty myth: retrospective observational study of Santa Claus
• A millennial discharge summary
• Is caviar a risk factor for being a millionaire?
• Sniffing out significant “Pee values”: genome wide association study of asparagus anosmia
• Nominal ISOMERs (Incorrect Spellings Of Medicines Eluding Researchers)—variants in the spellings of drug names in PubMed: a database review
• Gotta catch’em all! Pokémon GO and physical activity among young adults: difference in differences study
• We read spam a lot: prospective cohort study of unsolicited and unwanted academic invitations
• Open toe sandals syndrome

See also Christmas crackers: highlights from past years of The BMJ’s seasonal issue.

[previously], [previouser], [previouser], [previousest]

posted by alby (8 comments total)

I thought "millennial discharge" was something else entirely.
posted by Space Coyote at 1:27 PM on December 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

Re: "millennial discharge summary"
Kids today sure do love love their smart phones, amirite?
posted by andorphin at 1:29 PM on December 16, 2016

The premise of millennial discharge may've been lazy, but the devil is in the details, which are slightly less lazy.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:45 PM on December 16, 2016

This made my day! It also makes me happy that such an august publication can poke fun at itself.
posted by Pocahontas at 1:51 PM on December 16, 2016

I love the BMJ Christmas papers. This is a perennial favorite, which I use in my job to illustrate the limits of evidence-based medicine.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:10 PM on December 16, 2016 [6 favorites]

Finally, other variables such as the quality of whisky left for him in hospitals, availability of Christmas dinners,16 availability of chimneys, and free NHS parking spaces for reindeers may need to be explored. Whether Santa Claus actively discriminates or whether deeper structural factors are at play needs to be examined through further studies.

I have some sadz about this and I don't even celebrate Christmas.
posted by Sophie1 at 2:46 PM on December 16, 2016

ROTFL at the spam article, as we have the same issue over in the humanities. I'm particularly enamored of the predatory OA journal that keeps sending out a "Call for Paper" (only one?); bonus points for it having a different editor, who may or may not exist, every time.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:48 PM on December 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Halloween Jack: I love the BMJ Christmas papers. This is a perennial favorite, which I use in my job to illustrate the limits of evidence-based medicine.

Results We were unable to identify any randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention.

Bless you, ethics committees.

Also, always pack your own chute.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:55 PM on December 16, 2016 [1 favorite]