Writing Tips for Doctors: Reflections on my Experience Editing for Various Medical Journals
VIDEO + PDF tutorial, review, ideas and perspective
“Most doctors and scientists at the MD/DO/PhD level have topical expertise that greatly exceeds their ability to communicate that expertise.”
Proximate background: When I was Editor of Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, we received one particularly horrid and insistent article submission that was so poorly written that I was compelled to write and record an entire tutorial covering some basic concepts in writing and communication so that the journal could share these instructions to future authors in order to avoid the organizational exhaustion that resulted from trying to edit (including hiring a freelance subeditor for the sake of resurrecting this particular submission), correct, and improve poorly written submissions. Please subscribe (if you have not already) and share this article with friends, family, co-workers or anyone else who might benefit.
VIDEO: Journal Editing and Scientific Writing Tips
PDF article, edited video transcript
The tutorial itself, having been produced within a situation of distress and depletion, is not perfect, but at least it outlines some basics in communication and writing that are relevant and worthwhile; note that most doctors and scientists at the MD/DO/PhD level have topical expertise that greatly exceeds their ability to communicate that expertise.
Distant background: I noticed some natural proclivity for grammar structure and words at a young age (12 years, to be exact) and somewhat inspired by an animated English teacher in high school (Major Christophersen; Riverside Military Academy) I started college (University of Texas at Austin) with a primary interest in English/Literature/Grammar and a secondary interest in Architecture, the latter somewhat inspired by my engineer father and my architect uncle. When lightening struck and I redirected toward the study of healthcare, I did so knowing that writing and teaching would always be part of my activity in addition to clinical care. By the time I was 23-years-old, I was writing articles for publication and editing/reviewing for a quarterly medical journal. Eventually I would write and edit for a wide range of publications:
Editing/reviewing: Acta Neuropsychiatrica, Journal of Pain Research, Autoimmune Diseases, PLOS One, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Neuropeptides, International Journal of Clinical Medicine, Journal of Inflammation Research, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine (all PubMed/Medline indexed), Integrated Blood Pressure Control, Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry, Chiropractic Journal of Australia, Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, founding Editor of Naturopathy Digest, founding Editor International Journal of Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine and Editor (2018-2019) of Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine;
Published articles and letters: TheLancet.com, British Medical Journal (BMJ: online x3, print x1), Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Nutritional Perspectives (x11), Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Original Internist, Integrative Medicine (x4), Holistic Primary Care, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (x2), Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA), Dynamic Chiropractic (x3), Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Current Asthma and Allergy Reports, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, Nature Reviews Rheumatology, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, and Arthritis & Rheumatism—Official Journal of the American College of Rheumatology.
Dr Alex Kennerly Vasquez (introduction; brief Bio-CV) writes and teaches for an international audience on various topics ranging from leadership to nutrition to functional inflammology. Major books include Inflammation Mastery, 4th Edition (full-color printing, 1182 pages, equivalent to 25 typical books [averaging 60,000 words each]), which was also published in two separate volumes as Textbook of Clinical Nutrition and Functional Medicine (Volume 1: Chapters 1-4; Volume 2: Chapter 5—Clinical Protocols for Diabetes, Hypertension, Migraine, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, Vasculitis, Dermatomyositis and most other major inflammatory/autoimmune disorders); several sections have been excerpted including Antiviral Strategies and Immune Nutrition (ISBN 1502894890) (aka, Antiviral Nutrition [available as PDF download] and Brain Inflammation in Chronic Pain, Migraine, and Fibromyalgia. Dr Vasquez’s books are available internationally via bookstores such as BookDepository, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, BetterWorldBooks, WaterStonesBooks and his new Telegram channel is https://t.me/DrAlexVasquez.
