Next month is the 5 year anniversary of Science-Based Medicine. We have published 1575 articles so far, with 72,400 comments. We are getting about 475,000 views per month, and SBM has attracted the attention of the mainstream media, government agencies, peer-reviewed journals, and even television and movie producers. Over the last five years we have endeavored to be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the science of medicine, targeting our articles at both a professional and general audience simultaneously.
We are trying to engage with future and current health care professionals with articles about how to evaluate the medical literature, the pros and cons of various approaches to data, and the pitfalls of clinical decision making. We have also tried to serve a consumer protection function by targeting many false and misleading claims for health products. Further we have advocated strongly for effective regulation of health care products and practices to maintain a single, fair, and effective science-based standard of care across all health care.
It seems that we have met our initial goal of creating a successful blog promoting science-based medicine. But there is so much more to do. And we need your support.
Those who would tear down the standard of care in medicine, and erode or corrupt the scientific basis of modern medicine are tireless and well-financed with a huge profit motive to distort or even eliminate science as a barrier to their profits or promoting their ideology. Anti-science and pseudoscience has infiltrated every aspect of medicine – licensure, academia, government regulation, insurance coverage, peer-reviewed journals, store shelves, and everyday medical practice. What was previously understood as health fraud has been successfully rebranded as “alternative” or “integrative.” Placebos are now offered as effective medical interventions.
This is why we are always looking to expand our operations and reach, to rethink our strategies, and to make sure that our efforts are having a maximal impact. There are several ways that you can help in our efforts.
The most basic way, of course, is to simply donate your financial support to SBM. There is a donate button in the upper right of the homepage with which you can donate to SBM, which is operated by a non-profit educational organization, the New England Skeptical Society (NESS), and also in association with another non-profit, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).
We also need help maximizing our use of the ever expanding and changing world of social media. The original concept of SBM was to create an online resource that could engage with the new media and rapidly respond to the news cycle. We plan to increase our footprint on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and wherever else we can educate the public about SBM. All of this takes time and resources, and the editors of SBM are mostly busy professionals donating their time to SBM. We could therefore benefit from expanding our numbers, and specifically would like to attract SBM supporters who have any of the following skills:
– WordPress programmer
– Graphic design
– Website design
– Utilizing social media
If you feel you can contribute to this effort in any way, or have any suggestions about how we can further promote SBM, please contact us ([email protected] and [email protected]). We would love to discuss with you how your efforts can add to the SBM network. Of course, we also always welcome article submissions for review.
Thank you to everyone who has already donated their time and resources to SBM. Together we can make the next five years of SBM even more successful.
