What is Medical Writing?

Medical writing is a branch of scientific communications that deals with written texts about medical and clinical issues.

So, it follows that medical writers are essentially professionals who combine the art of writing with the exact science of, well, science. To guarantee a precise and accurate use of medical and scientific terminology, it’s best to have an educational background in science. Medical writers should also be familiar with the available bibliographic sources, as research is absolutely key to good scientific writing.

An excellent introduction to medical writing can be found in an interview with the former president of EMWA, the European Medical Writers Association, Dr Helen Baldwin. [REMOVE]

Doctor Baldwin’s video defines medical writing as “the activity of producing scientific and medical documentation by a specialised writer”.

In a helpful booklet called “A Career Guide to Medical Writing”, the EMWA identifies two extremes that medical writers need to keep in balance:

At one end of the spectrum lies medical communications, the creation of written, audiovisual, oral and online materials relating to medicine or health in general.

At the other end is regulatory writing, which is generally comprised of documents involved in the research, development and commercialisation processes of drugs or medical devices: from clinical trial documents (protocols, study reports, annual security updates, etc.) to marketing.

What does a medical writer do?

Taking in a broad spectrum, a medical writer might work with:

promotional or marketing texts for pharmacies or other health-related products
educational texts for medical and health professionals
publications related to the development of pharmaceuticals or procedures, such as presentations, journal articles, posters etc.
accompanying documents for pharmaceutical or other therapeutic products
medicine and health-related websites
monographic studies
conference or convention reports
abstracts for scientific articles
scientific articles

These texts may be aimed at a general audience or professional audiences like doctors, health workers, researchers, and professionals from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Many types of regulatory writing documents have designated acronyms in English:

CSP (Clinical Study Protocol)
CSR (Clinical Study Report)
CTD (Common Technical Document)
RMP (Risk Management Plan)
ICF (Informed Consent Form)
IB (Investigator’s Brochure)
SAEs (Serious Adverse Events)
IMPD (Investigational Medicinal Product Dossier)
PIP (Paediatric Investigation Plan)

Medical writers are often confused with the all-round scientific writer. The difference is that while scientific writers may work in a range of fields, medical writers are specialised in medicinal and health-related issues in particular. Fundamentally however, both ought to be guided by principles of clarity, precision and scientific accuracy.

What skills does a medical writer have?

As we have seen, documentation produced by medical writers can vary greatly according to the sector and the intended audience: documentation to be presented to regulatory bodies, articles for scientific journals, protocols and reports required for clinical research, conference posters, educational pamphlets for patients, blog articles or websites with medical or health-related content etc.

A good medical writer should therefore be able to work in a range of health-related fields and be flexible enough to be able to work on a diverse range of issues.

When it comes to clinical research, a medical writer can put their skills to work by writing research protocols, information sheets and informed consent for patients, help write up the results reports later on, and finally by making a written contribution to an article about the research in a scientific journal.

If it’s not clear why publishing is important, suffice it to say that at the legislative level, unpublished research simply doesn’t exist. Publishing the results obtained, whether they favour the study’s hypothesis or not, is an ethical obligation and a requirement of the research process.

In order to write about medicine or science in a competent, clear, professional and accurate way, medical writers must:

have a profound knowledge of the language they are writing in (most medical texts are first written in English, but professional knowledge of any other languages involved is essential)
communicate clearly, concisely and accurately
know and follow the standards for the documents they are writing
respect deadlines (which are often tight and strict) and project constraints, and be able to adapt their work rhythms to expected schedules
understand the fundamental science of the field concerned
have a basic knowledge of statistics
know how to archive complex documentation (with updates, variants, corrections, etc.)
know how to use digital bibliography management tools (EndNote, Reference Manager, Zotero, ProCite, etc.)

Another presentation by doctor Helen Baldwin of the EMWA clarifies the desired skills, abilities and characteristics of a good medical writer.

Who are medical writers? Are they doctors or linguists?

This brings us to another question: Who makes a good medical writer? A doctor with a talent for (scientific) writing, or a linguist with a flare for science?

There’s no one right answer here, but there is a trend in the market.

Regulations on medical writing as a profession vary from country to country, with dedicated associations existing in some countries and not in others.

The number of medical writers, scientific communicators, and science and medical editors on the market is ever increasing. We looked through job opportunities for medical writers and noticed that a science degree or a medical one (medicine, biology, pharmacy, etc.) is often a requirement.

However, the average salary on offer meant that these opportunities were more attractive to linguists with scientific training as opposed to science graduates with linguistic training, who can generally find work for better pay.

Nevertheless, many specialists claim that it’s easier for humanities graduates to fill in the gaps in the science than the other way around. Given that doctors hardly have a shining reputation for communication skills, it’s easy to see why.

So, there is no one right way to become a medical writer. There are also a few different ways into this profession. As Senior Marketing and Communications Consultant Laura Gatti emphasises in her short article for Springer Healthcare (only available in Italian)

“Training medical writers is a challenge: they need to be able to discern the key message from the collected data and be able to describe and represent it in a convincing way, but they also need to have the soft skills necessary to work under the pressure of an entire team and the ability to stay up to date with industry regulation. It is virtually impossible for a person to have those skills natively, most of them must be learnt and honed.”

This is exactly why training, or at least an internship with a scientific content creation company is essential for a medical writer’s education.

Why we need medical writers

When we look for medical content online, we have high expectations about information accuracy and reliability. This need for accuracy should be mirrored by the need to entrust content like this to experienced professionals.

Not only companies, but professionals who create scientific information and need it to be articulated clearly and accurately in order to reach their audience should also entrust this work to a scientific and medical communications professional.

Where can I find a medical writer?

Medical writers find their niche in a range of roles and organisations:

pharmaceutical laboratories
communications agencies that distribute scientific content
academic institutes
CRO (Contract Research Organisation)
NGOs
specialised publishers

However, medical writers often work as freelancers and offer their services to a range of clients, not least of which to other health science professionals who want to get their research, services and products out there.

What are medical writers’ associations?

The fastest way to learn more about medical writing or get in touch with the profession is to look at the websites of medical writers’ associations and of scientific journalists and communications professionals.

As mentioned, these associations vary greatly from country to country, but there are at least 3 very active international associations to start with:

the previously mentioned EMWA (European Medical Writers Association)
the AMWA (American Medical Writers Association)
and the ISMPP (International Society for Medical Publication Professionals).

These associations and the ones listed below are there to promote the profession, defend its interests, give access to the range of services available by its respective members, and provide a wide range of training courses for medical writers, which are sometimes linked to internationally recognised certification.

EMWA

EMWA, the European Medical Writers Association, is a professional network that represents, supports, and provides training for medical communicators in Europe and beyond. It’s a non-profit organisation managed for its members, by its members.

It was founded in 1989 by a group of biomedical communications professionals from the academic, industrial and journalistic fields. Since then, it has attracted over 1000 members from 39 different countries (including 12 non-European countries): academics and professionals who work for pharmaceutical and medical communications companies, research institutes, and in the field of scientific journalism, both as in-house and freelance professionals.

AMWA

With over 4000 members, AMWA, the American Medical Writers Association, claims to be the top professional organisation for medical writing professionals. It provides a large number of training resources and publishes the AMWA Journal, a nationally distributed, peer-reviewed publication that seeks to become a complete and authoritative source of information on knowledge, skills, and opportunities in the medical communications field.

ISMPP

ISMPP, the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals, is professional association formed in 2005 and registered as a non-profit in the USA.

With over 1800 members, the ISMPP represents all those involved in publishing medical research, including pharmaceutical and biotech companies, publishers and medical communication agencies, editors and writers of medical journals, and professional medical writers.

The ISMPP has implemented a certification programme that gives medical publishing professionals the opportunity to obtain the recently established Certified Medical Publication Professional™ (CMPP™) credentials. More than 50% of ISMPP members are certified ISMPP CMPP™.

ABSW

ABSW, the Association of British Science Writers, is a UK-based association which brings together media professionals who cover science, medicine, the environment, mathematics, engineering and technology.

Founded in 1947, the ABSW has provided networking, training, and professional development opportunities for science journalists at every career stage for almost 75 years, and also have a calendar of events and annual prizes to honour excellence in scientific writing and journalism.

AHCJ

AHCJ, the Association of Health Care Journalists, is an independent, non-profit organisation with headquarters in Indiana, USA. Its mission is to advance public knowledge about health issues, and improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of communications, writing, and editing in the field of health sciences. It was founded in 1997 and has over 1500 members.

AMWA – Australasian Medical Writers Association

The Australasian Medical Writers Association (not to be confused with its US counterpart, which uses the same acronym, “AMWA”), is the reference point for the promotion of excellence in medical, scientific, and healthcare sciences communication in Australasia. It reached this position by providing training programmes, networking, and mentoring. Founded in 1982, it supports a growing community of medical communicators, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, and attracts many doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals interested in pursuing a career in writing and editing, as well as journalists who want to specialise in health and medicine.

BELS

BELS, the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences, was founded in 1991 in the state of Maryland, USA, to evaluate the competence of life sciences manuscript writers and to award similar credentials to those available for other professions. BELS has over one thousand certified editors in 22 countries. It provides three credentials that certify writers’ professionalism.

CSE

CSE, the Council of Science Editors, is an international organisation for scientific editing professionals. It serves over 800 members of the science, scientific publishing, and information science communities, and promotes networking, education, debate, and exchange with the aim to become an authority on current and emerging questions in the communication of scientific information.

EASE

EASE, the European Association of Science Editors, is an international community of individuals and associations from a range of backgrounds, linguistic traditions, and professional experiences in scientific communication.

EASE’s mission is to improve the global standard and quality of scientific editing by promoting the value of scientific editors and supporting professional development, research, and collaboration.

ISWA

ISWA, the International Science Writers Association, is an organisation of individual members set up in 1967 as a response to the increasingly international scope of scientific and technical communication. It claims to be the world’s oldest association for scientific journalists.

NASW

NASW, the National Association of Science Writers, based in California, USA, is a community of journalists, authors, writers, producers, public information officers, students and people who write and produce material aimed at educating the public about science, health, engineering and technology. It is therefore not focused exclusively on medical writing, but on scientific writing in general.

Founded in 1934 and formally constituted in 1955 with the aim of “promoting the distribution of accurate information about science through all media normally used for public information”, the NASW defends the professional interests of scientific writers at a national and international level and takes an active role in guaranteeing writers are paid for their work, as well as supporting copyright protection for authors.

SWCC

SWCC, the Science Writers & Communicators of Canada, was founded in 1970 as the Canadian Science Writers’ Association by a small group of scientific and medical journalists who recognised their role in helping their fellow Canadians to better understand the rapid changes taking place in our world.

In 2017, the association updated its mandate to better reflect the expanding nature of scientific communication in Canada, and too become more inclusive for those who contribute to public scientific discourse through various channels. Today it is a national association that welcomes media professionals, communications managers from institutes linked to science and technology, technical writers, educators and all others involved in science and technology communications for the general public.

WAME

Founded in 1995, WAME, the World Association of Medical Editors, is a voluntary, non-profit association for peer-reviewed medical journal writers from countries across the world. It has 1.830 members, representing more than 1.000 journals in 92 countries. WAME promotes international cooperation and training for medical journal writers. WAME membership is free, and all editors of peer-reviewed medical journals are eligible to join.

What is Medical Writing?

What is a medical writer, what skills do they have, and where can you find one?

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