Predatory publishing – what medical communicators need to know - Volume 28, Issue

The rise of ”predatory journals”, also known as pseudo-scientific journals, poses a risk to the integrity of science and therefore medical communicators need to know about their practices. Upon receipt of a publication fee, predatory journals…

Science writing workshops for AIDS vaccine researchers in Africa - Volume 22, Issue

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is a global scientific and advocacy organisation dedicated to ensuring an AIDS vaccine for use worldwide. In Africa, IAVI partners with seven research centres who conduct vaccine trials and studies.…

Forgive me for repeating myself: Self-plagiarism in the medical literature - Volume 21, Issue

While plagiarism of others’ work is universally condemned, authors’ reuse of their own words and data (so-called ‘self-plagiarism’) is a far more contentious issue. The recycling of one's own text, in particular, polarizes opinion: some consider it…

Regulatory Writing - Volume 22, Issue

This article introduces aspects of the regulatory writing profession in China and Japan. Although regulatory medical writing is at an early stage of development in China, the ever-growing research and development activities in this country have led…

From the Editor - On social media: Once a passive observer – now an active user - Volume 30, Issue

It is with great pleasure that I write my first editorial for this amazing issue on social media. The idea of this issue came to me in 2019, inspired by two special colleagues.

I had social media accounts even before I became a medical writer. I rec…

In the Bookstores - Volume 22, Issue

The Spirit Level

Ever had a ‘ping’ moment? This book might have been mine. I'm not a natural pessimist, but Western society today seems less cohesive and people more materialistic, stressed, unhealthy, and unhappy than in times gone by. Wealth and s…

An introduction to little-known aspects of nonclinical regulatory writing - Volume 26, Issue

Nonclinical evaluation is a key component of drug development. Traditionally, scientists have prepared much of the written regulatory documentation, with dedicated nonclinical writing being a niche profession. This is changing – the demand for…

Guidelines for disclosing the results from observational trials - Volume 26, Issue

Observational trials are a relevant part of clinical research. Publishing their results can be challenging for scientists and writers.  The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement was the first…

Removing the dead wood - Volume 26, Issue

Authors are urged to write clearly, concisely and convincingly, but this can be difficult to achieve if they are unaware that they are using longwinded phrases, convoluted language and excessive hedging, also   called “dead wood”. In this article, I…

Datavision™ – What do medical writers need to know? - Volume 23, Issue

Datavision™ is a publication planning software tool that is widely used across the healthcare industry to manage publication programmes. Medical writers are one of the key Datavision user groups, and need to know how to use the elements of the…