Getting what you want from your scientific writing: tips for writing clearly - Volume 21, Issue

Good medical writing is like good writing in any discipline: the writer should explain complex concepts and ideas clearly and accurately and engage the reader. In this article, I provide four suggestions to help clarify writing on complex subjects:…

Landscaping the terminology of accessible language document types - Volume 31, Issue

There are three main types of accessible language documents that medical writers and medical publications professionals may work on. These are regulatory lay summaries, publication-associated plain language summaries (PLS), and standalone plain…

How CDC is promoting a clear communication culture - Volume 24, Issue

Both the federal Plain Writing Act and the mission of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to protect and promote people's health require CDC to communicate clearly so that people can understand and act on the important health…

Plain Language and Readability - Volume 24, Issue

Advancing health equity through language access – a global imperative - Volume 33, Issue

In this article, the authors outline the universal right to health, healthcare, and language access in healthcare, with a focus on policies and practices in the European Union and the United States. The authors spotlight contrasting views on whether…

Profile: An interview with Blanca Mayor Serrano on the state-of-the-art of health literacy in Spain - Volume 22, Issue

There seems to be a move towards ‘patient-centred’ health care as part of an overall effort to improve the quality of health care and to reduce costs. Individual patients and providers have to work together to ensure effective communication.…

Five “translation” strategies to adapt technical content for lay audiences - Volume 33, Issue

Writing for lay audiences requires language that is understandable by readers without expertise in the subject matter at hand. This means carefully selecting, organising, wording, and supporting content, focusing on conveying relevant points in a…

The Webscout - Volume 24, Issue

The word ‘plain’ in its original sense just meant ‘flat, smooth’. In the thirteenth century, it also gained the meaning ‘evident’. And from the fourteenth century on, ‘plain’ has been used in the way we understand it in the term ‘plain language’: to…

Regulatory Matters - Volume 29, Issue

Ever since the EMA mandate for plain-language summaries of clinical trials was codified in Clinical Trial Regulation EU No. 536/2014, medical writers have grappled with the task of making these documents accessible to the public, including to…

Medical Communications and Writing for Patients - Volume 30, Issue

Dear All, In this edition of Medical Writing, I’m delighted to present an article from Vidhi Vashisht and colleagues on a subject very close to my heart – plain language summaries (PLSs). PLSs are summaries of clinical trial results written in a…