TY - JOUR T1 - <em>Ave atque vale</em> JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 100 LP - 101 DO - 10.3399/bjgp20X708305 VL - 70 IS - 692 AU - Roger Jones Y1 - 2020/03/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/70/692/100.abstract N2 - In almost 10 years in the BJGP editorial chair I’ve looked at over 5000 research and academic papers, and published getting on for 1000 of them. I thought it might be helpful to reflect on research and publication in general practice and primary care, as well as taking this opportunity to say some thank yous.I’m leaving the BJGP at the end of March, and I’m delighted to be doing so at a time when the Journal, and its sister, BJGP Open, are in such good shape. The BJGP’s Impact Factor, a measure of the frequency with which articles are cited by other peer reviewed publications, is 4.434. This may not mean much to many readers, but, believe me, this is the metric which keeps journal editors awake at night. In truth, it probably shouldn’t, because new and more relevant measures of impact are being devised, but for the time being it matters. The BJGP’s impact factor is the highest of all primary care journals globally, and this wide relevance is reflected in the numbers of digital visits and downloads on the BJGP website, running into the millions each year.Readership surveys conducted by the RCGP indicate that the Journal is highly regarded as a major benefit of membership and fellowship, although there is a continuing and lively debate about the extent to which it meets the needs of clinicians who are not engaged in research or teaching, reflects or reports on College policy, is too international or not eclectic enough, or contains too many or too few non-clinical articles. The College produces and publishes so much excellent material that, if it was better coordinated, the needs of all its members could be satisfied. Synthesising and cross-referencing material published in the BJGP, BJGP Open, InnovAiT … ER -