Interlude: Key Questions, Judgment, and Authorship
Here's my latest curated round-up of the best tips, tools, and resources on scientific and medical writing.
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
Webinar: Choosing Language that Promotes Inclusive Communication
Did you miss my live webinar on how to recognize and replace stigmatizing language? Watch the recording to learn what you can do to adopt inclusive language with guidelines supported by the American Medical Association.
How Plain Language and Readability Strengthen Writing
I am looking forward to speaking about one of my favorite topics at the annual American Medical Writer's Association (AMWA) conference next week. I am thrilled that the planning committee highlighted the upcoming education session in the AMWA Journal.
Growing Your Career as an Editor: Honing Skills and Balancing Responsibilities
Next week, I am delighted to join two other seasoned editors in a panel discussion at the annual AMWA conference. We will talk about grant editing, mentoring trainees, working remotely, and the different mindsets you use when writing and editing.
💻 From My Desk
What Key Questions to Ask When Reviewing Your Grant Proposal
Constructive feedback is a valuable part of grant writing. And the better feedback you get, the better your proposal—and project—will be. To help you get the specific feedback you need to write a strong proposal, ask your colleague reviewers some key questions (bonus: free checklist download).
Prevent Judgment by Avoiding the Term "Comply"
Some scientists and clinicians use the terms adhere and comply as synonyms. But these terms have different meanings. And one of them connotes judgment that could be stigmatizing. Learn why you rarely want to use the term comply in your writing.
📆 Upcoming
Lay Summary Webinar - November 4, 2021
Compose a clear, informative lay summary
Scientific Writing Masterclass - Starts February 2022
Transform your writing into clear, concise, and compelling content
👓 Reading
Open Pharma recommendations for plain language summaries of peer-reviewed medical journal publications
"We recommend that plain language summaries should be in the style of an abstract, free of technical jargon, unbiased, non-promotional, peer reviewed, and easily accessed. Plain language summaries should also meet the technical requirements to be indexed in directories such as PubMed."
Biomedical Authorship: Common Misconducts and Possible Scenarios for Disputes
"...this article reviews the criteria of authorship recommended by related international organizations of [the] biomedical field and discusses common scenarios that may lead to authorship disputes and misconducts as well as issues related to authorship in multicenter studies."
A Survey-Weighted Analytic Hierarchy Process to Quantify Authorship
"The scoring rubric...transforms the binary tetrad ICMJEc...[and provides] a transparent method to objectively assess authorship contributions, determine authorship order and potentially decrease the abuse of authorship."
Predatory Journals- The Power of the Predator Versus the Integrity of the Honest
"A majority of the work published in these pseudo journals aside from being incorrect and mundane, provide no advancement to science. But more importantly, the negative impact of these journals can have direct implications on patient health care and research."
🧰 Tools
Upright
Better posture can improve your oxygen flow to optimize your thinking while writing. Last year, I discovered this little device that gently reminds me to straighten up when I start slouching at my computer. Since then, my posture and concentration have both improved.
💬 Quote
“Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard." – David McCullough
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
