CPD Credits for Canadian Physicians
CMAJ is a provider of Mainpro+® certified Self-Learning credits from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) can transfer your credits directly to CFPC on your behalf. This service is currently only available for registrants of cma.ca. These Mainpro+® certified Self-Learning credits can be earned by completing a brief Impact Assessment questionnaire after reading eligible articles in the journal. This service is currently only available for CFPC members who are registered with cma.ca. To register, create an account at CMA Connect.
Each issue of CMAJ includes one or more articles designated as eligible for CFPC certified Self-Learning credits. Sign up for the weekly Table of Contents email to receive notification of the latest eligible articles.
View the Current Certified CPD Articles page. Certified credit for these articles is expiring soon.
Canadian physicians can also request credit directly from CFPC and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for non-certified learning credits based on reading CMAJ articles.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
CMAJ is a useful resource for members of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in obtaining Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credits. The MOC program was revised in 2024.
- Group Learning (Section 1)
- CMAJ articles can be used for credit in accredited (1.0 credit per hour) or unaccredited (0.5 credit per hour) journal clubs.
- Educational Content Review (Section2: Individual Learning)
- Activity Preparation (Section 2: Individual Learning)
- Readers can receive 2 credits per hour for preparing articles for submission to CMAJ; or using CMAJ archives to prepare educational sessions, manuscripts, grant applications etc., or to answer clinical or academic questions.
- This was previously known as the “Personal Learning Project” category.
- Feedback Received (Section 3: Feedback and Improvement)
- Authors can obtain 3 credits per hour for time spent reviewing and reflecting on feedback provided from peer review of papers they have submitted to CMAJ.
- Feedback Delivered (Section 3: Feedback and Improvement)
- Peer reviewers for CMAJ can obtain 3 credits per hour for preparing peer reviews.
- The maximum no. of credits for this category is 15 credits per year.
Requests for credit should be submitted directly to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. More information on the MOC Program can be obtained here.
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
Certified Self-Learning Credits
CMAJ is a provider of Mainpro+® certified Self-Learning credits from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).
Canadian physicians can earn Mainpro+ Certified Self-Learning credits for completing a brief, reflective exercise (an ‘Impact Assessment’) after reading eligible CMAJ articles (certified credits are available for 18 months after publication).
Credits are transferred directly to CFPC on your behalf for each eligible CMAJ article for which an 'Impact Assessment' is submitted, to a maximum of 50 credits per year. The number of credits varies by article type.
CMAJ’s CPD program was expanded in January 2024 to offer more article types eligible for certified credit and a graduated credit scale (see table below). For eligible articles published before 2024, participants will receive 0.5 credits. The applicable credit value is available on each article.
1 credit* |
0.5 credit |
0.25 credit* |
Guideline |
Practice – Case |
Practice – Five things to know about |
Review |
Practice – Decisions |
Practice – Five ways to support |
Analysis |
Practice – What's your call |
Practice – Clinical Images |
|
Practice – Innovations |
|
|
Practice – 360 Cases |
|
*As of January 2024.
For more information, please see below. View the list of current certified articles.
Non-certified Credits
Any CFPC member or those who are part of CFPC’s Non-Member Mainpro+ Participant Program can obtain non-certified credits (1.0 credit per hour of participation) for the following activities related to CMAJ:
- Reading CMAJ articles that are not identified as part of CMAJ’s Certified Self-Learning Credit Program (Self-Learning category).
- Self-study using CMAJ podcasts and CMAJ videos (Self-Learning category).
- Preparing an article for submission to CMAJ (Self-Learning category).
- Peer reviewing a paper for CMAJ (Assessment category).
- Use of a CMAJ article in a journal club (Group Learning category)
Claims for non-certified credits should be made directly with CFPC. More information on CFPC’s Mainpro+® Program can be found here.
How CMAJ’s Certified Self-Learning Credit Program works
Each issue of CMAJ includes one or more articles designated as eligible for CFPC certified Self-Learning credits for registrants of cma.ca. To register, create an account at CMA Connect.
Look for eligible articles in the Table of Contents weekly email (“Earn CPD credits), print edition (“CPD” icon) or list of current certified articles. Sign up for the weekly Table of Contents email.
- Read the article(s) for which you wish to earn credit. Click on the “Related Content” tab at the top of the article. If credits are available for that article, you will see the heading “EARN CPD CREDITS”. Click the “Yes” button under “did you read this article”. Alternatively, select and read articles from the list of eligible articles, or the weekly Table of Contents email, and click on the “Earn CPD credits” link. You'll be directed to a page that shows the title of the article and the number of credits you're eligible to receive. Click 'Yes' when asked "Did you read this article?"
- You are then directed to the cma.ca log-in page. Enter your cma.ca user name and password when prompted. (If you are a CFPC member but do not have a cma.ca account, create one at CMA Connect.)
- Once logged in, you'll be directed to an 'Impact assessment'. Complete the assessment and 'Submit'. You are then prompted to enter your CFPC membership number, if you haven't already done so.
- Credits are automatically recorded and transferred to the CFPC on a quarterly basis.
- Credits earned January to March will be submitted in April
- Credits earned April to June will be submitted in July
- Credits earned July to September will be submitted in October
- Credits earned October to December will be submitted in January
- Readers can make comments on articles or ask questions of authors or other readers using the “Respond to this article” link (to the right of each article in the Article Tools box at CMAJ.CA). All responses are vetted by CMAJ editors prior to posting, and once responses are posted, authors are automatically notified. Authors and readers may respond using the same link.
CMAJ CPD Planning Committee
Administrative support: CPD-CMAJ Group ([email protected])
Shannon Charlebois [Competing Interests]
Diane Kelsall [Competing Interests]
Andreas Laupacis [Competing Interests]
Kirsten Patrick [Competing Interests]
Catherine Varner [Competing Interests]
For any questions regarding CMAJ’s CPD program, contact us here.