title: Why the history of nephrology?
abstract: Nephrology is a relatively new discipline that emerged at a time when the writing of the history of medicine was changing drastically. While the merits of medical history were valued since antiquity, it was only in the 18th century that the actual historiography of medicine began. It was nurtured, matured and appreciated enough that by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, medical history was incorporated into the medical curriculum and presented at national meetings. Unfortunately, the merits of medical history and its inclusion in medical education have come under increasing scrutiny over the past few decades. Ironically, the erosion began at about the same time that scholarly work on the history of medicine was flourishing whilst that of scientific discovery and innovation in medicine was accelerating. The demands of rigorous research into the history of medicine gradually led to the emergence of medical history as an independent discipline within academic departments of history. Simultaneously, the exponential growth of new information generated by medical research led to an overflow of medical knowledge in which the inclusion of medical history was contested and dismissed. That is just about the time that nephrology emerged in the 1960s. Whereas initially the quest for origins led renal journals to publish historical articles, the more recent quest to increase impact factors has led to the exclusion of historical articles from consideration for publication. This manuscript examines the reasons that brought about the separation of nephrology from its history and proposes potential solutions to their rapprochement.
authors.forename: Garabed
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eknoyan
mesh_terms: D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D009398:Nephrology / Q000266:history*