The journal was established in 1863 as Medicinskt Archiv by Axel Key (Karolinska Institutet).[1] It covered the broad field of medicine, but accepted only contributions from Sweden written in Swedish. However, it soon became more international and in 1869 it was renamed Nordiskt Medicinskt Arkiv, accepting articles from all Nordic countries in Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, with abstracts in German.[2] In 1901, the journal was divided into two sections, one for internal medicine and one for surgery.