Passing the torch - Volume 21, Issue

This issue is the first where I will be serving as Editor-in-Chief of Medical Writing (MEW). Elise Langdon-Neuner, Editor-in-Chief since 2004, will be stepping down. This is yet another step in the evolution of the journal.

For those of you unfamili…

Post-approval regulatory writing - Volume 23, Issue

Plain language and readability - Volume 24, Issue

Plain language is writing in clear, concise language that is easy to read and understand. Whenever I hear the term plain language I am reminded of a lay summary I was once asked to edit. The stream of technical language (‘self-source bias’, ‘effect m…

Out On Our Own - Volume 24, Issue

Editorial

All of us are aware by now that we can't live without technology and not only at work. With advice, aids, appliances and apps in abundance, we are at the point where we can't see the wood for the trees. Thank goodness we have advice from M…

Good pharma - Volume 22, Issue

Drugs companies publish only a fraction of their results and keep much of the information to themselves. Drug companies are ‘debasing’ drug trials whose publication in journals can apparently confer scientific approval. Merck had fought for years to …

The Light Stuff - Volume 22, Issue

Decoding the Japanese Code 1: Yes means yes, and no does not exist At a recent dinner, my husband and I were chatting with a university professor, a Japanese fellow who has lived and worked in Europe and the US. We talked about cross-cultural…

Capitalising on social media marketing to raise confidence in COVID-19 public health information and vaccines - Volume 30, Issue

Widespread misinformation about COVID-19 has incited harmful behaviour that has undermined the public health response to the global pandemic, and posed a major threat to public health. To our detriment, social media has contributed to the spreading…

Social Media: A tool that can benefit public health? - Volume 29, Issue

The global use of social media has changed access to health information, and the internet has become its primary source for the general public. However, judging health information on social networks remains difficult for nonmedical readers since…

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…

Planting a “non-biological” seed – will this meme persist? - Volume 29, Issue

Some word uses persist and some do not. Part of what makes use of a word stick is how catchy it is. This word is already used on our supermarket shelves. This proposed new use illuminates a small way in which language evolves. And it helps to…