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INTRODUCTION
The importance of educational programs on biomedical writing, editing, and publishing has attracted growing attention in recent years, particularly in non-Anglophone countries. Such programs are not widely available, and there is still no strong evidence to support specific format and contents acceptable for trainees globally (1). Based on empirical experience, these programs can be successfully established in institutions with relevant departments, rendering science writing and editing services (2).
In the Asia-Pacific region, Tokyo Medical University is one of the few universities that provide biomedical writing, editing, and publishing programs to its faculty and staff (2). Educational programs at the Department of International Medical Communications of Tokyo Medical University are updated regularly to adjust their curricula to the upgrading standards of research reporting, ethical editing, and publishing. A variety of individual consultations, lectures, graduate courses, and services through an electronic editorial platform are now offered to faculty and visitors of the university.
The objective of well-structured educational programs in biomedical writing, editing, and publishing is to transfer essential knowledge and skills to those who wish to master science writing. The program's concept, organization, mentorship, evaluation, and follow-up require careful attention. Faculty of the department can tailor a specific program for a target group of participants by selecting and enhancing relevant training components. The ultimate goal of the program is to facilitate publishing in leading biomedical periodicals. The mechanics and essential components of the program are described in this article.
MECHANICS
The mechanics described here cover some of the important logistical aspects crucial in developing the programs. These include the objectives, design, benefits, duration, participants and qualifications, program formats, administrative issues, and mentorship.
Objectives
The primary objectives of the program are to train qualified professionals to be competent in writing, editing, and publishing biomedical articles, and to be proficient in rendering a full range of assistance in any of these areas.
The specific objectives may include the following: 1) to teach effective writing and communication of research results, highlighting the importance and reliability of the study; 2) to pass on basic and advanced knowledge and skills in biomedical writing, editing, and publishing under the close supervision of senior biomedical mentors and science editors; 3) to provide in-depth knowledge and guidelines on key aspects of ethical publishing, peer review, journal indexing, and archiving; 4) to train biomedical writers and editors who will be ethical contributors of research publications; and 5) to promote international collaboration through joint local and international courses.
Participants completing these programs should possess advanced knowledge and skills in biomedical nomenclature, evidence-based writing, editing, and publishing.
Design
The programs should be designed to provide a foundation for manuscript writing in compliance with established research reporting standards. An additional value of the programs is to enhance post-publication communication skills of the participants.
The programs can be designed to help biomedical professionals, graduate students, and researchers publish their papers in the best target journals indexed by MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science with high impact factors (IFs).
Benefits
By completing the training programs, participants may boost their confidence in biomedical writing and editing. Professional orientation can be realized through the exchange of experiences among the participants, aiming at enhancing writing skills and publishing capacity. A clear understanding of the ethical basis and benefits of biomedical writing, editing, and publishing can be achieved and new networks of competent writers, editors, and publishers can be established.
Duration
The duration of the programs can vary widely, depending on the needs of the target audience. Short courses can be organized daily for two weeks. Longer programs may take three to six months.
Participants and qualifications
To substantially benefit from the training programs, participants should have an academic degree in the natural sciences, medicine, linguistics, translation studies, or science journalism, or have work experience at a biomedical or pharmaceutical company.
Participants must have some science writing and editing experience, basic knowledge of the structure of a scholarly paper, and good interpersonal communication skills. Health professionals, researchers, educators, medical writers, authors' editors, and translators can also participate in the programs.
Intermediate to advanced knowledge of written English and spoken English skills are expected from each participant to benefit fully from the program and facilitate interactions.
Format of programs
At present, educational programs in the form of graduate degree courses are scarcely available and are mostly offered online. The Science Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University covers basic skills and a master's in science writing (3). The University of Chicago Graham School offers a certified program in medical writing and editing (4). On the other hand, the Master of Science (MS) in Biomedical Writing at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia offers instructions in basic skills for medical writers and electives focusing on regulatory or nonregulatory writing. Finally, there is a new MS program in medical writing which is offered by the University of Innsbruck in Austria (6).
The advantage of the present educational program is that it is not restricted to the graduate degree course format, but it can be arranged in the format of either internships, certified courses, symposia, seminars, webinars, public lectures, academic visits, fellowships, collaborative research, or graduate degree courses. As the main objective is to transfer essential knowledge and skills to those who wish to master science writing, faculty of the department can tailor a specific program for a target group of participants by selecting and enhancing relevant training components. This makes the program more flexible and adaptable. Moreover, the program puts emphasis in facilitating publishing in leading biomedical periodicals.
Administrative issues
Contents of the documents and manuscripts used for the trainings should be kept confidential. The roles of the coordinators and collaborators should be clarified at the start of the program, with careful planning of the participants' residence and expenses. Upon successful completion of a certain course, a certificate informing about its contents and academic hours is awarded. For the materials and manpower system, hosting universities or institutions should ideally have a special academic unit (or aim to develop one) with tenured faculty members who handle courses in medical English, communications, and writing. They will serve as a team of editors developing the editing, writing, and publishing materials and the programs; providing editorial support using electronic editorial services; and promoting international publications.
Mentorship
Good educational programs should be spearheaded by experienced academic mentors who generously share their knowledge, skills, and experience. The academic mentors must be highly skilled medical doctors or biomedical experts with a record of high-quality scholarly publications, extensive experience in teaching biomedical courses or editing, and history of successful academic mentorship.
ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS
The essential components of the programs can be divided into three schedules: I. Basic aspects of biomedical writing, editing, and communications; II. Essential skills in biomedical writing, editing, and publishing; III. Interactive lectures on relevant topics.
Schedule I: Basic aspects of biomedical writing, editing, and communications
This schedule involves lectures, presentations, workshops, and feedback on the following topics: basic English grammar, editorial/scientific styles, sentence structures and patterns, statistics for medical writers and editors, tables and graphs, components of a paper, conference communications, and preparing an article for publication (Table 1).
The following areas are discussed in detail: 1) basic writing and correct use of words, phrases, and clauses; 2) types and structures of biomedical articles; 3) composing titles, structuring abstracts, designing methodologies, reporting results, writing discussions, and formatting references; 4) editing tables and graphs, diagnostic images in clinical medicine and analytical images in basic sciences; and 5) interpreting statistical analyses.
Schedule II: Essential skills in biomedical writing, editing, and publishing
This schedule covers lectures, presentations, or workshops and feedback to build skills in biomedical writing, editing, and publishing. Participants critically appraise biomedical manuscripts and develop skills in substantive editing and copyediting of different parts of a manuscript (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion). These activities are also aimed at evaluating the scientific merit of the results and the validity of the conclusions.
Participants also gain skills in searching through bibliographic databases, institutional repositories, detecting scientific misconduct, and communicating with authors, reviewers, and editors. Practical exercises cover scientific authorship (criteria of authorship, inappropriate authorship), conflicts of interest, plagiarism detection, and other issues in publication ethics. Familiarizing with study designs, research reporting guidelines of the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) Network (http://www.equator-network.org/), and guidance from global editorial associations are also included in this schedule (Table 2).
Schedule III: Interactive lectures on relevant topics
Schedule III involves interactive lectures, presentations, workshops, and feedback on topics in medical writing, editing, and publishing. These activities allow improvement in analytical thinking. The topics covered range from peer review, journal indexing, impact indicators, editorial management systems, research designs, publication misconduct, editorial decision-making, open access, and digital publishing (Table 3).
EVALUATION AND FEEDBACK
Participants of the program will receive a written evaluation regarding their performance for the activities covered. To reinforce the learning process, feedback emphasizing points for improvement is provided. Verbal evaluation and feedback may also be provided daily during the programs.
Halfway through the program, participants receive evaluations regarding their ability to 1) consistently correct the English or scientific language, 2) identify and correct ambiguities and inconsistencies, 3) edit to the journal language requirements, and 4) write the required statements, disclosures, and information.
At the end of a program, participants receive evaluations regarding their ability to 1) evaluate the research design, 2) determine the internal validity of the results and conclusions, 3) identify potential errors and biases that may distort the results or study interpretation, 4) suggest new sentences or sections for omission, and 5) give advice for manuscripts that fail to meet content and formatting guidelines.
TARGET OUTCOME
Upon completion of a certain educational program, participants will be encouraged to write a publishable paper on one of the topics covered during the program. The paper will be submitted to a suitable target journal indexed in MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science.
CONCLUSION
Educational programs in biomedical writing, editing, and publishing should be organized to provide a foundation for improving skills and competence in these fields, as well as for gaining in-depth knowledge and understanding of research methodology, science communication, and scholarly publication (Fig. 1).
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