I agree. The Journal does not recommend anything. They publish others and their recommendations. So McCullough and the 17 were published by the AMJ and put forth their protocols for treatment. There were no clinical trials but reported observations, and it was their opinion that it was effective in reducing mortality rates and effective in recovery. AMJ said w/o clinical trials they could not say it was effective.
Since trials were prevented by NIH during the Covid outbreak, McCullough and others crafted therapeutics w/o the trials and found them effective. Their protocols are the basis for those practitioners that want to administer therapeutics.