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…

Trends in regulatory writing: A brief overview for aspiring medical writers - Volume 28, Issue

The EU regulatory system is undergoing a major overhaul. Several new pieces of legislation are now in place to enforce harmonisation and transparency in clinical trials while ensuring data security and individual privacy. New and aspiring medical…

Race and ethnicity in biomedical literature: A narrative review - Volume 31, Issue

Race and ethnicity are not clearly defined in biomedical literature and misaligned with genomics and epigenomic findings; the guidelines for consistent reporting in publications and regulations from health authorities are lacking. Minority…

Plain language summaries of clinical trial results: What is their role, and should patients and AI be involved? - Volume 33, Issue

Plain language summaries (PLSs) of clinical trial results are vital tools in the clinical development process for enhancing transparency and encouraging and facilitating patient engagement. The production of a PLS is now mandated in the EU for all…

Writing in plain language for the Summary of Safety and Clinical Performance: Communicating medical device safety and performance data to patients - Volume 34, Issue

Effective communication with patients is paramount in the medical field, particularly in the medical device sector, where the complexity of information can create barriers to understanding. The Summary of Safety and Clinical Performance (SSCP) has…

How FAIR are pharma publication data? - Volume 31, Issue

Sharing research data increases reusability, reduces waste, supports reproducibility and promotes innovation. In medical research, sharing data also promotes transparency and access to information relevant to patient care. While important…

Creating educational materials about clinical research data for patients and the public: A multifaceted journey in the current digital age - Volume 33, Issue

With scientific advances during the COVID- 19 pandemic and expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) in research, there has been a simultaneous increase in misinformation about data collection, privacy, and sharing in clinical trials. This increase h…

Public perceptions of health information generated by AI: A research study - Volume 34, Issue

Artificial intelligence (AI) integration in clinical practice has intensified in the last few years, from systems analysing and interpreting existing data to generative AI systems capable of creating new information and offering new possibilities…

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…

Regulatory Public Disclosure - Volume 32, Issue

Editorial Sam Hamilton (author and section editor) Medical Writing. 2023;32(3):91–95. https://doi.org/10.56012/hnnl8161 Clinical Data Publication (Policy 0070) relaunch Alison McIntosh (author) In preparation for the relaunch of EMA Clinical…