The New England Journal of Medicine rescinded its policy that banned physician-focused publications from advanced access to embargoed articles, Medpage Today reported May 21.
Last month, the journal denied access for some reporters to embargoed NEJM papers. The news outlets that report for physician readers would no longer meet criteria for embargoed access, the journal said, instead only giving access to media produced content for the public or non-clinical audiences. The reason for the change was unclear.
The Association of Health Care Journalists and its members reached out to the journal's editor-in-chief Eric Rubin, MD, PhD, pointing out the policy was "unfair and would impede the free flow of information," according to the report. Dr. Rubin responded immediately and said it's "important for us to help journalists tell their stories, and this [policy] doesn't do it."
The journal has since scrapped the ban language from its Media Center homepage and said it would continue to require certain credentials before granting access to embargoed papers, but the rule will be applied equally to all journalists.
"We value our relationship with the news media and understand that updated criteria for granting embargoed access to our content resulted in questions about the ability to deliver on our shared goals of advancing trusted and accurate medical knowledge," the journal said in a statement to MedPage. "Therefore, approved news media working for daily, weekly, or monthly publications – whether they are written for the general public or clinicians – will have access to embargoed and published journal content."