BMJ now available as a tablet app – and specialist journals go mobile

The BMJ is now available as a tablet application (app), the first general medical journal to offer a product of this kind.

Also launched today are mobile optimised websites across BMJ Group’s portfolio of specialist journals.

Since 2010, the BMJ has been available as an iPad app, but users of the new tablet app will not need an iTunes account to access the journal.

Instead it works through a web browser, offering subscribers an online journal with a similar reading experience to the weekly print BMJ but with added interactivity. For example, each article contains clickable graphics, embedded video and audio (where available), and links to related articles from the BMJ archive.

Users can also download issues to read offline and submit responses to articles.

The tablet app is available free to all personal subscribers and institutional customers, initially on the iPad Safari browser, but the plan is to make it available on other tablet devices in the near future.

The BMJ iTunes app will still be available free to British Medical Association (BMA) members or via the Apple Newsstand for people who want to buy a single issue or monthly subscription.

David Payne, Editor of bmj.com explains that the decision to launch the tablet app on the iPad initially is because most mobile traffic comes from it (39,918 visits in May 2012 compared with 17,631 from other mobile devices). It is also a way of giving non-UK readers a sense of the print BMJ, which many overseas readers have asked for, he adds.

“We hope our tablet app will be as successful as our iPad app, particularly among institutional customers and personal subscribers,” he says.

Find out more at www.bmj.com/tablet

BMJ Group is also delighted to announce the launch of mobile optimised websites across its portfolio of over 40 specialist journals.

Regardless of which device is used, each website has been designed to accommodate smaller screens and lower bandwidths.

Geetha Balasubramaniam, Head of Marketing for BMJ Journals said: “Simply access any BMJ Journals website and it will optimise to fit your screen, giving you a seamless browsing experience."