The MJA and the search for evidence

To the Editor: I applaud the ideology of the Journal in its pursuit of evidence-based excellence, drawn to our attention by Rosselli in a recent letter.1

Based on data that the MJA is at the top of the list of English-language journals publishing "evidence-based medicine" references, Rosselli asks "could it be that MJA readers are three times more interested in EBM-related topics than BMJ readers?".

My response is that the editors (and perhaps also reviewers) of articles for the MJA may well be more interested in EBM than their BMJ counterparts, but this does not necessarily apply to readers. Without actual evidence of what interests MJA readers, it is not possible to draw any conclusions. Perhaps the readers should be asked?