A Didactic Dilemma in Emerging Societies: Devaluing Journal Club in Medical Working out

Abstract

A journal club is a scholastic conference in which a group of persons discuss issued articles, providing an opportunity for a shared effort to keep up with the current writings. The emphasis of journal clubs has supposedly shifted over the years. What was once a setting in which the world's recent literature was analyzed became a setting for talking over clinical issues raised by the writings and, most recently, a setup for learning critical reading abilities to physicians or other associated authorities. Nevertheless, so far there is no generally accepted definition of journal club, even though this academic method has been around for more than a century and has evolved basically during this period. In the present paper, conceptual and applied features of journal club, especially in developing countries, is surveyed, to discuss an apparent underrating of journal club in some medical departments, which could be due to misunderstanding of new philosophies, or to talk about the necessity of modification of an academic misconduct, which could be attributable to didactic unawareness.