The Evolution of the Journal Club: From Osler to Twitter

Abstract

Journal clubs have typically been held within the walls of academic institutions and in medicine have served the dual purpose of fostering critical appraisal of literature and disseminating new findings. In the last decade and especially the last few years, online and virtual journal clubs have been started and are flourishing, especially those harnessing the advantages of social media tools and customs. This article reviews the history and recent innovations of journal clubs. In addition, the authors describe their experience developing and implementing NephJC, an online nephrology journal club conducted on Twitter.

Keywords: Journal club; NephJC; Twitter; continuing education; discussion forum; literature appraisal; medical education; microblogging; nephrology; nephrology training; new media; online tools; postpublication peer review; professional development; social media.