History
The NZMSJ was established by a group of Otago medical students completing studentships in Dunedin over the summer of 2002-2003. They identified the need for students to gain experience in publishing their findings of their own original research, including that which would not necessarily be considered by the established medical journals. This group formed a small editorial board, and, under the leadership of Ayesha Verrall, secured funding through a University of Otago grant for $20,000, which when supplemented by a modest advertising income, allowed them to produce the first issue of the journal in March 2004. A launch function was held in Dunedin and attended by the then Health Minister, Annette King, who agreed to fund a second issue, which was published a year later in March 2005. Access Annette King's NZMSJ launch speech here. A further issue followed in October as the journal made the landmark shift to biannual publication.
The core ethos of the journal, as solidified at a strategic planning meeting during the journal’s expansive phase in 2005, is threefold:
1. To support medical student professional development
2. To be a forum for opinions and discussion
3. To publish the educational writing of medical students
2006 was another watershed year for the journal as many of the initial executive members moved on to Otago’s satellite clinical schools in Wellington and Christchurch and for the first time an effort was made to recruit students from Auckland.
The journal underwent another phase of development in 2010. A formal constitution was written and the ‘NZ Medical Student Journal Society’ was registered with the Charities Commission. The journal also began to publish regular themed issues and invited commentary from guest editors. The first of these new themed issues, which coincided with the NZMSA’s annual conference in 2010, was the inaugural winner of the NZMSA’s Award for the Best New Student Initiative in 2010. The award was given in recognition of the excellent contributions the NZMSJ has made in furthering and promoting medical student research in New Zealand.
The journal structure and operation underwent significant change again in 2011. The ‘Executive Committee’ was restructured to separate the ‘Editorial’ and ‘Commercial’ functions. The former ‘Academic Editorial Board’ and ‘Features Editorial Board’ were merged to enable student reviewers (formerly ‘Editors’) to review a range of articles, not just academic or feature articles in isolation. Names of the leadership roles and positions within the new executive were changed so that they were consistent with the titles and roles used in publishing. With the creation of the Academic Editor and Feature Editor roles, Sub-Editor roles were created to support the section editors; namely in distributing the workload and provide training for potential succession. The role of Deputy Editor was also developed for the same reason
The then Editor, Benson Chen, also began negotiations with the New Zealand Medical Association to increase cooperation between the student journal and the ‘parent’ journal, the New Zealand Medical Journal. The journal’s finances were in fairly poor shape, as many of the regular advertisers had pulled out during the economic recession, and the journal itself had to change printers and undertake design work in-house to minimise costs. An agreement was struck with the NZMA through the advertising manager for the NZMJ and the Chief Executive of the NZMA, with the plan for NZMJ and NZMSJ’s advertising to be handled together. Additionally an informal agreement was established which allowed the NZMSJ to republish work published in the NZMJ.
In 2012, Mariam Parwaiz consolidated some of the work that Benson Chen had started. The main focus was to improve the finances of the Journal and financial support from NZMA (Volvo), the Universities of Otago and Auckland, and MAS helped ensure the Journal was able to cover all costs of production. Joyce Hipolito, a design student from the University of Auckland, was recruited to help with the design of the Journal. This is an area we have struggled with in recent times.
The core ethos of the journal, as solidified at a strategic planning meeting during the journal’s expansive phase in 2005, is threefold:
1. To support medical student professional development
2. To be a forum for opinions and discussion
3. To publish the educational writing of medical students
2006 was another watershed year for the journal as many of the initial executive members moved on to Otago’s satellite clinical schools in Wellington and Christchurch and for the first time an effort was made to recruit students from Auckland.
The journal underwent another phase of development in 2010. A formal constitution was written and the ‘NZ Medical Student Journal Society’ was registered with the Charities Commission. The journal also began to publish regular themed issues and invited commentary from guest editors. The first of these new themed issues, which coincided with the NZMSA’s annual conference in 2010, was the inaugural winner of the NZMSA’s Award for the Best New Student Initiative in 2010. The award was given in recognition of the excellent contributions the NZMSJ has made in furthering and promoting medical student research in New Zealand.
The journal structure and operation underwent significant change again in 2011. The ‘Executive Committee’ was restructured to separate the ‘Editorial’ and ‘Commercial’ functions. The former ‘Academic Editorial Board’ and ‘Features Editorial Board’ were merged to enable student reviewers (formerly ‘Editors’) to review a range of articles, not just academic or feature articles in isolation. Names of the leadership roles and positions within the new executive were changed so that they were consistent with the titles and roles used in publishing. With the creation of the Academic Editor and Feature Editor roles, Sub-Editor roles were created to support the section editors; namely in distributing the workload and provide training for potential succession. The role of Deputy Editor was also developed for the same reason
The then Editor, Benson Chen, also began negotiations with the New Zealand Medical Association to increase cooperation between the student journal and the ‘parent’ journal, the New Zealand Medical Journal. The journal’s finances were in fairly poor shape, as many of the regular advertisers had pulled out during the economic recession, and the journal itself had to change printers and undertake design work in-house to minimise costs. An agreement was struck with the NZMA through the advertising manager for the NZMJ and the Chief Executive of the NZMA, with the plan for NZMJ and NZMSJ’s advertising to be handled together. Additionally an informal agreement was established which allowed the NZMSJ to republish work published in the NZMJ.
In 2012, Mariam Parwaiz consolidated some of the work that Benson Chen had started. The main focus was to improve the finances of the Journal and financial support from NZMA (Volvo), the Universities of Otago and Auckland, and MAS helped ensure the Journal was able to cover all costs of production. Joyce Hipolito, a design student from the University of Auckland, was recruited to help with the design of the Journal. This is an area we have struggled with in recent times.
Past Issues
Year |
Issue |
Theme |
Editor-in-Chief |
2004, March |
1 |
- |
Ayesha Verrall |
2005, March |
2 |
- |
Ajay Sud |
2005, October |
3 |
- |
Rosemary Wyber |
2006, May |
4 |
- |
John Scotter |
2006, October |
5 |
- |
John Scotter |
2007, October |
6 |
- |
Brian Grainger |
2008, March |
7 |
- |
Brian Grainger |
2008, July |
8 |
Rural |
Brian Grainger |
2009, May |
9 |
- |
Sophie Parker |
2009, October |
10 |
- |
Sophie Parker |
2010, May |
11 |
Wellbeing |
Benson Chen |
2010, October |
12 |
Medical Student Selection |
Benson Chen |
2011, July |
13 |
Disaster Medicine/Global Health |
Benson Chen |
2011, November |
14 |
Election Year Special |
Benson Chen |
2012, July |
15 |
Professionalism |
Mariam Parwaiz |
2012, November |
16 |
Medical Humanities |
Mariam Parwaiz |
2013, May |
17 |
Voluntourism |
Amelia Shin |
2014, September |
18/19 |
10 Year Anniversary Issue |
Ammar Alsamarra'i |
2015, May |
20 |
Medical Student Consent |
Ahmed Abdile |
2015, September |
21 |
Bullying & Harassment |
Ahmed Abdile |
2016, July |
22 |
- |
Ahmed Abdile |
2016, November |
23 |
Resident strikes |
Ahmed Abdile |
2017, June |
24 |
Waikato Medical School |
Cheyaanthan Haran |
2017, November |
25 |
Academic Clinician |
Cheyaanthan Haran |
