European Science Editing: May 2015 picks - Volume 24, Issue

In the ironically titled ‘The increasing pseudodignification of medical prose’, retired consultant Neville W. Goodman bemoans the failure of medical writers (by which he means people who write scientific papers) to use simple words.1 Goodman…

Medical Communications - Volume 25, Issue

Anyone working in pharmacovigilance (PV) will already have spent many months working their way through the ever changing updates and reforms to the Risk Management Plan (RMP), and the newly legislated RMP summary. Those not working in PV will…

Post-approval regulatory writing - Volume 23, Issue

Non-clinical health writing - Volume 23, Issue

We medical writers have a unique and valuable skill set, which includes, most notably, the ability to understand and clearly communicate complex medical information. We are also experts at working with multifunctional teams, compiling detailed…

Medical writing around the world - Volume 22, Issue

As many of you are already familiar, Medical Writing began as The Write Stuff, a publication written by and for EMWA members. One of the goals in making the transition to Medical Writing was that it would become an international journal with readers…

Writing for lay audiences - Volume 24, Issue

For most of us, medical writing is highly technical. We prepare regulatory or clinical documents or write materials targeted to medical doctors. Medical writing for lay audiences is different, and it does not come naturally to most of us because…

President's Message - Volume 24, Issue

I can't believe that my two years on the Executive Committee are now complete – what a journey from Manchester and Barcelona in 2013, Budapest and Florence in 2014, and finally Dublin in 2015. Apart from travelling many miles, I have had a great…

The horror and the pity: Obesity and diabetes - Volume 21, Issue

Something less beguiling for a horror-story addict than the emergence of obesity would be hard to imagine. Start by reading the 27 August 2011 issue of the Lancet. One article predicts that the obesity rate in the UK will make the tremendous leap fro…

Oncology and medical writers - Volume 21, Issue

Let me start this first editorial in an old journal with a new name by explaining why a medical writing journal has a theme issue on oncology and includes articles that are not directly related to writing. Medical writers write about research that is…

Medical writing in paediatrics: Children and the future - Volume 21, Issue

‘Children are one-third of our population and all of our future.’ Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981 With the falling birth rate I wonder if they still are a third of the population, but there is no doubt that they are our…