Translation: A transcultural activity - Volume 29, Issue

Effective communication is the goal of any professional medical and communication writer. Transferring the correct messages from one language to another is a task that is increasingly covered by software, but translation machines cannot confer the…

A role for medical writers in overcoming commonly held misconceptions around FAIR Data - Volume 29, Issue

More and more, computers must participate with physicians and patients as trusted partners in assessing medical options and tracking outcomes. But before the computer can become a routine medical assistant, data and computational services must…

HIV research fraudster handed stiff prison sentence - Volume 24, Issue

In the December 2014 issue of Medical Writing, I reported that disgraced Iowa State University researcher Dong-Pyou Han was facing fraud charges for faking experiments on a new HIV vaccine.1 In spite of a guilty plea, on 1 July 2015 Dr Han was…

Plain language summaries of publications: What has COVID-19 taught us? - Volume 30, Issue

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the whole world, and the public has had to struggle with understanding scientific data on a daily basis. The impact of scientific misunderstanding became painfully apparent with the decline in vaccine…

Fake news and vaccination: How the Science Anti-Fake News team in Argentina is fighting the infodemic - Volume 31, Issue

At the outset of the pandemic, it became clear that misinformation (“fake news”) on COVID-19 was spreading rapidly. In this article, we discuss our efforts to combat misinformation by joining with researchers from various disciplines in Argentina to…

AI for medical writers: Friend or foe? - Volume 32, Issue

Artificial intelligence (AI) is beginning to affect almost every industry, and medical writing is no different. But how does this relate to our industry? How will AI affect medical writers? What’s already available and what is in the pipeline?…

Medical writing in the era of artificial intelligence - Volume 28, Issue

The increasing amount of data available together with advances in computer science are converting computers from simple tools that execute commands into self-taught, self correcting machines that make decisions. This is the beginning of the era of…

Are stem cells the future of healthcare? - Volume 21, Issue

Stem cell technology holds a key, although arguably not an exclusive position, in the future of healthcare. Alongside two other candidates worthy of this mantle – personalized cancer medicine and vaccine development – all three healthcare…

Promoting equity in understanding: A cross-organisational plain language glossary for clinical research - Volume 29, Issue

Clear communication with the public and with potential clinical trial participants and their caregivers is foundational to the ethical tenets of respect, justice, and beneficence. However, health literacy, even of highly educated individuals, often…

Out On Our Own - Volume 24, Issue

Editorial

All of us are aware by now that we can't live without technology and not only at work. With advice, aids, appliances and apps in abundance, we are at the point where we can't see the wood for the trees. Thank goodness we have advice from M…