Message from the President - Volume 22, Issue

A year has passed so quickly and it is time for me to step down and hand over to Andrea Rossi, the new EMWA President and the first Italian to take on this important position. On reading through the various messages I sent you during the past year,…

Message from the President - Volume 23, Issue

These two years in the Executive Committee flew by. They will remain in my heart for ever. It is difficult to summarise the emotions and the things we accomplished these last two years. When this adventure started in Cyprus, Susan Bhatti, the…

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…

Preclinical studies - Volume 26, Issue

Welcome to this special issue about nonclinical and preclinical research. Nonclinical and preclinical research is the first step toward new drug development, where scientists investigate mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, and safety. Many…

EMWA News - Volume 26, Issue

The 45th EMWA Conference in Cascais, Portugal, has recently finished and we are all waiting for the upcoming annual event in Barcelona, Spain, next Spring. In the meantime, the Executive Committee is working hard on improving what EMWA has to offer…

Pharmaceutical medical writing competencies: Comparing self-perception with employers' expectations - Volume 21, Issue

In the recently published ‘Pharmaceutical Medical Writing Competency Model’, a group of medical writers describes the knowledge, skills, and behaviours they considered essential for successful medical writers. Thus, this model represents a list of…

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…

From researcher in Europe to medical writer in India - Volume 21, Issue

This is an article about my returning back to India from Europe and transition from research career to a profession of medical writing. I was introduced to medical writing through European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) while I was in Europe.…

Lay summaries for Phase 1 trials in healthy volunteers - Volume 29, Issue

Lay summaries of Phase I trials in healthy volunteers pose a challenge because their endpoints are complex, the targeted indication may not be known when they are conducted, their results are often reported years after the trial ended, and the…

Awareness of medical writing as a profession and its career prospects - Volume 27, Issue

As medical writing (MW) is a growing profession in India, we assessed the awareness among professional medical writers (PMWs) about their job and career prospects. We conducted an anonymous survey among PMWs (N=192) working in a global…