www.emwa.org Volume 27 Number 3 | Medical Writing September 2018 | 1
Volume 27 Number 3 September 2018
MedicalWritingEditingMedical writing is an umbrella term that involves not only writing but alsoediting and translating medical texts between different languages. While someof us will work specifically as editors in medicine or science, editing skills areparamount to medical writers, translators, and communicators in general.
The success of the Writing Better Workbook published in the spring 2017issue of Medical Writing (Volume 26, Issue 1 at http://journal.emwa.org/writing-better/) underscored the importance of improving both our writingand editing skills as medical writers. With this goal in mind, we put togetherthis issue on editing including articles that cover the essential aspects ofediting and practical tips to implement on a day-to-day basis. The first articlesare organised in a workbook style including exercises on proofreading,macroediting, and editing for non-native speakers of English. The followingoffer practical tips on microediting, editing after translations, giving feedbackto medical writers, and the implications of a certification in editing. We brought together experienced editors from different fields whocontributed with state-of-the-art information on each of these topics.
Naila Zaman opens this issue with a step-by-step guide to become abullseye proofreader with the ability to identify and remedy grammatical,typographical, and spelling errors in medical content. KrithikaMuthukumaran puts emphasis on “How clear is the story?” to ensure clarity
and flow whilekeeping in mind theintended aim of thearticle and readershipmaking the storypower ful and effec -tive. EMWA’s work -shop leader KariSkinningsrud coversthe challenges andgood practices whenediting texts written
by non-native speak ers of English. In the following article, the highlyexperienced Barbara Grossman and Marian Hodges put together astructured and methodical approach to ensure both consistency and accuracyin delivering a high-quality product in their article “Microediting: Detailsmatter.” Laura Collada Ali, Paz Gómez Polledo, and ClaireHarmer talk about “Revision: Parameters and practiceswithin the translation industry” and how thesepractices are paramount and differ from merelyediting in English. Bridget Pfefferlehighlights the importance of giving feedbackas an editor and practical insights toleverage this soft skill. Finally, LillianSandø, one of the few BELS-certifiedEMWA members, writes about herexperience with the exam and the relevanceof this certification for both medical writersand editors.
In a similar fashion to excelling at our writingskills, editing and its nuances should be at the core ofour working habits as medical writers. Every articleincluded in this issue tackles a different aspect of this practice.However, I would like to highlight one that, in my opinion, should be at thetop and many times is underestimated: keeping our audience in mind at alltimes. In academia, most often we aim to just get our results out there, andthat’s why most academic papers are incredibly long, complex, and hard toread. One of the primary skills that we should train when transitioning fromacademia to medical writing is the ability to make complex content readableand tailored to our target audience, whoever that might be.
Finally, we nowadays have technological development on our side withtools like Grammarly (among others) that help us improve our writing skillsand even check for plagiarism while we write or edit. Tools such as these arewidely available online and facilitate writing and editing. However, we should
not rely solely on them but use them as learning resources. Our writing and editing skills should become a habit to the pointthat we make use of our bullseye even when writing emails,putting together a presentation, or submitting our résumé for ajob application.
A great medical writer never rests. Enjoy this issue!
We puttogether this
issue on editing including articles
that cover theessential aspects of
editing and practicaltips to implement
on a day-to-day basis.
� Evguenia Alechine
GUEST EDITOR
�
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