O, safety, quo vadis? - Volume 21, Issue

It is widely acknowledged that resolutions of difficulties tend to engender new problems. Increasingly, complex systems perpetuate increasing complexity. This discursive essay suggests that the most promising of discoveries, innovations, and…

COVID-19 contagion, information, and misinformation - Volume 29, Issue

The set of reactions being observed in the current coronavirus outbreak is similar to that in other epidemics: the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the swine flu H1N1 pandemic, and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Indeed, progress has been…

Effective authoring of clinical study reports: A companion guide - Volume 23, Issue

‘Why write a clinical study report (CSR)? What are the guidance documents? Can I interpret them? Can I deliver my CSR on time?’ This article addresses these questions – and others, provides a companion guide to CSR authoring for preregistration drug…

Cost comparison of salaried and freelance medical writers working in Europe - Volume 23, Issue

This is the first systematic comparison of the costs of salaried and freelance medical writers working in Europe. In the absence of official figures for the total costs of employment, we make reasoned assumptions, using mean base figures for…

Journal Watch: Dedicated medical writing rotation for pharmacists, publication of drug industry funded research, and evidence-based medicine for clinical decision making - Volume 23, Issue

The ability to write up results and contribute to the medical literature is an important skill in a number of professions, including pharmacy practice. Some pharmacy residency programmes require that their participants produce a manuscript of…

Andrea Cortegiani

Good Writing Practice - Volume 29, Issue

The absolute phrase contains a noun headword and a present participle.

ICMJE requirements for sharing individual participant data from interventional clinical trials - Volume 28, Issue

Sharing of deidentified/anonymised individual participant data is rapidly becoming the norm. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recently implemented requirements for data sharing as a condition for considering publication of…

Responding to concerns over the PSMF: Inspectors offer key insights - Volume 23, Issue

The pharmacovigilance system master file (PSMF) is a detailed description of the pharmacovigilance system used by the marketing authorisation holder for their authorised medicinal products. The PSMF is intended to be a live, custom-made document…

Health economists and medical writers: Collaboration or collision? - Volume 22, Issue

Medical writers are perceived by many health economists to be incompetent in health economics writing. Medical writers need to abolish this common perception, and so must develop an understanding of cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, and other health…