The American Journal of Bioethics is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Things have changed dramatically for the journal in that time. The nature of publishing has been radically transformed, from a model that depended heavily on individual subscriptions and readership that was largely of a physical journal, to a screen culture in which the vast majority of readers access articles online through institutional bundles of subscriptions. AJOB began as a quarterly journal and grew to monthly. Our Journal’s position in the field has changed too. We have grown from an upstart to arguably the top journal in the field. By most bibliometric measures, the journal is far and away the top journal in a number of fields, including ethics, and we are proud to be one of Taylor and Francis’ top journals in any field (our latest Impact Factor is an all-time high of 7.647).
The field of bioethics has changed too. Twenty years ago, the prospect of human reproductive cloning seemed to be an urgent concern for many people in the field. Today, we are in the middle of a pandemic that is exposing to the public the way that racism and inequality impact the health of populations, and the cruel reality that many people in the U.S. lack basic rights and any prospect of equality of opportunity. We have covered a broad range of topics over the years, including ethical challenges raised by cutting edge technologies (stem cells, CRISPR, neuroenhancement technologies), key concepts in clinical ethics (definitions of death, how to do ethics consultation, issues in end of life care), and issues in public health ethics (rural healthcare, pandemics and the duty to treat, global health ethics).
Looking back, what stands out are the amazing interdisciplinary conversations that we helped the journal fostered on these topics. The authors who contribute Target Articles and Open Peer Commentaries, the peer reviewers who donate their time, the Editorial Board members who serve as ambassadors for the journal, and all of the editors have all helped make AJOB the success it is today---a highly cited, highly downloaded, highly influential journal.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary, we have chosen to highlight a selection of articles from among the most downloaded and the most cited articles that we have published. These will be freely available through the end of the year.
Please enjoy revisiting these articles. All of us working on the journal are excited to see what the next 20 years will bring.
David Christopher Magnus
Editor in Chief
