Association of Physicians of India (API) was founded in the year 1944 at Madras. Till 1952, the association had no journal. In fact the presidential address delivered by Dr. Jivraj Mehta, the first president of the association was published in the Journal of Indian Medical Association.

The first editor was Prof. S. S. Misra, from King George Medical College, Lucknow. The journal was then called “Medicine”. Prof. Misra did not have any money to run the journal. On his request Dr. J. C. Patel, then the Secretary of API, donated the whole amount that the association had i.e. ₹.1000/- ! The first editorial of Prof. S.S. Misra is reproduced below, both for its historical importance as well the philosophy and scope of the Journal as envisaged by him.

The money however dried up soon, and for lack of financial support after 3 issues the publication was discontinued until 1955 when George Coehlo of erstwhile Bombay was appointed the next editor. Before this Dr. Coehlo had been successfully publishing “Medical Bulletin” since 1932. The Journal was now named “Journal of Association of Physicians of India”. Since then the Journal has not looked back with consistent improvement in publication schedule, quality and variety of contents and quality of printing.

So far twelve individuals have held the prestigious Editor’s position. These being

Dr. Mangesh Tiwaskar, the 12th Editor, has the privilege of being Editor of JAPI (The Journal of the Association of Physicians of India) as it is popularly known.

The process of appointment of editors has changed over the years. Initially it was by selection, then election and now by nomination. Except for the first editor, Prof. S. S. Misra, all the editors have hailed from Mumbai. This has ensured continuity of function. The head office of API being at Mumbai is an added advantage.

Over the years the Journal office has shifted from place to place. Since 1989 it was housed in the API rented place. The journal since the year 2000 now has its own office purchased along with The Association of Physicians of India at a very specious location “No. 006 & 007, Turf Estate, Dr. E. Moses Road, Opp. Shakti Mill Compound, Mahalaxmi (West), Mumbai 400 011. The journal also has its dedicated staff working.

Initially the Journal was published quarterly. In 1959 it became a bimonthly journal and since 1961 it is published every month. Thus from less than 500 pages per year, the number increased to 1604 in the year 2002. Pari pasu with the growth of API has been the increase in circulation of the Journal. From monthly 3000 copies in 1982, 17,000 copies are now printed every month. Today the Journal receives over 650 manuscripts per year. On an average over 300 articles are now published in the Journal per year. The financial position of the Journal was poor at the beginning. It did not improve till 1982. Since then a positive balance has been achieved despite the fact that API has stopped its contribution since the year 1999. The financial situation was so bad in the early eighties that the then editor, Dr. G. S. Sainani put in the following insert in the Journal

“May I request the members to please give us helping hand in getting advertisements for JAPI so that we can further improve the printing of JAPI. JAPI offers 10% commission to those who help JAPI in getting direct advertisements (Sainani GS JAPI – The future – J Assoc Physicians of India 1985;33:1337)”.

Since then today JAPI is self sufficient and does not draw any contribution from API. The journal is also publishing “Special Issues” of interest to the practicing physicians contributed by eminent specialists of the field from the country.

Some important landmarks in the history of the journal are given below.