Among the purposes laid out in NYAM’s founding document was “the cultivation and advancement of the sciences by … our contributions to medical literature.” These contributions were also to come through NYAM’s own publishing efforts. The early Academy contemplated producing a substantive publication, the Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, its name consciously echoing such prestigious journals as the London-based Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and the American Philosophical Society’s Transactions. NYAM’s Transactions was to serve as a high-quality production of the best presentations delivered at its meetings. Due to high printing costs, as well as the need for sufficient content, the first issue only appeared after four years, in April 1851. A problem soon presented itself: the Academy’s rules allowed no outside publication of papers presented at its meetings, yet it did not itself publish on a regular basis. As a result, many Fellows gave up reading papers altogether, as to do so was to effectively embargo them! In effort to break the logjam, in April 1860 the Academy embarked on a new publication, the Bulletin, including the text of papers read and a record of their discussion. In 1871, having produced only four volumes and with quality dropping, NYAM gave up on the Bulletin. The Transactions continued, slowly; when it ceased publication in 1903, the Academy had produced 16 volumes.

The Academy resumed publication of the Bulletin in 1925, recording papers, addresses, annual reports, and its other business. After 72 years and 74 volumes, in 1997 the Bulletin transformed into the Journal of Urban Health, an independent academic journal. NYAM now publishes its annual report, presidential statements, staff work, bibliographies, academic resources, and, increasingly, full videos of its programs and talks on its website.