Hektoen International is an on-line journal started in November 2008 by the Hektoen Institute with the purpose of bringing culture into medicine and exposing healthcare professionals to art, ethics, literature, history, anthropology, literature, philosophy, religion, and sociology.
The journal is distributed at no charge to 100,000 health care professionals (mainly physicians but also nurses, administrators, pharmacists, etc.) in most countries of the world, primarily the United States, England, and Australia, but also other parts of Europe, Russia, Asia, and Africa. It receives contributions from authors worldwide and publishes articles related to culture and healthcare. It does not publish clinical articles, which differentiates it from the many clinical journals now in existence.
In its short existence the journal has received wide acclaim. Many correspondents have commented that there is great need for such a journal and that its unique forum allows physicians and other health care practitioners to express themselves through art, photography, interpretation of the classics, and other activities that further their intellectual growth. It has often been said that many doctors have too narrow a horizon, have become technicians, and have no interests outside medicine, to the detriment of their relations with patients. Hektoen International is the ideal forum for uniting healthcare with culture.
Hektoen International consists of the journal itself, appearing four times a year; a gallery of collected artwork; a library containing documents, published articles, and resources; and links established with numerous institutions. The journal carries no advertisements. It does not publish a hard copy, thus making it an entirely green journal.
The journal accepts for consideration articles that explore medicine and the healing arts through the lens of the humanities, in such disciplines as history, art, anthropology, ethics, literature, philosophy, religion, and sociology. Please send all submissions to journal@hektoeninternational.org.