Author Guidelines

Thank you for considering publishing with us. The following is meant to guide authors to ensure a smoother transaction with us.

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We only publish original articles that have not been published anywhere else. All submissions are routinely screened for plagiarism, and articles that fail our checks will not be published.

Topics to consider

We intend to publish all articles related to medical writing, covering a wide variety of themes including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Medical writing skills and techniques
  • Marketing medical writing skills
  • Medical writing how-to
  • Medcomms industry trends
  • Innovations in medical writing
  • Tools for medical writers
  • Medical writing ethics
  • Business management in medical writing

If your topic is not covered by any of the above themes, contact us for further advice.

Formatting your article

Your article should be well-formatted to meet our publication requirements.

Word count

We accept articles that are no less than 500 words and no more than 5,000 words.

Subheadings

The number of words following each subheading should be less than 250 words. If a section is more than 250 words, consider breaking it into sub-sections.                     

For subheading text, use H2, H3, or H4 header formats in your Word processor. Only use H1 once in the title.

Keywords

If you are writing to target a particular keyword, the focus keyword density should be 0.7% to 1.0% of the total article word count. Related (LSI) keywords should constitute 1.5% to 1.8 of the total word count.

Furthermore, the FIRST paragraph or FIRST 100 words of the article should contain the focus keyword. The LAST paragraph or LAST 100 words of the article should contain the focus keyword.

Ensure that at least one of the subheadings contains the focus keyword.               

Sentences & paragraphs

Transition & sentence length

Ensure that 30% or more of the sentences contain transition words or phrases. See below for examples of transition words/phrases.

Less than 20% of all the sentences in the article should be long (sentences are considered long if they have more than 20 words). Likewise, 20% or more of all the sentences in the article are short sentences (short sentences are those with less than 10 words).

All paragraphs should be short, i.e. no more than 100 words.                     

Active vs passive voice

Ensure that 90% or more of all sentences contain active voice. Example: “The product contains natural ingredients” is an active sentence. Also, less than 10% of all sentences should contain a passive voice. Example: “Natural ingredients are included in the product” is a passive sentence.

Transition words and phrases

The examples below, categorised by type of relationship, are common and useful transitional words and phrases. Use these phrases in at least 30% of sentences in an article, i.e. consider using these words/phrases in every third sentence.

  • Cause and effect: consequently, therefore, accordingly, as a result, because, for this reason, hence, thus, etc.
  • Sequence: furthermore, in addition, moreover, first, second, third, finally, again, also, and, besides, further, in the first place, last, likewise, next, then, too, etc.
  • Comparison or contrast: similarly, also, in the same way, likewise, although, at the same time, but, conversely, even so, however, in contrast, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, otherwise, still, yet, etc.
  • Example: for example, for instance, in fact, indeed, of course, specifically, that is, to illustrate, etc.
  • Purpose: for this purpose, for this reason, to this end, with this object, etc.
  • Time or location: nearby, above, adjacent to, below, beyond, farther on, here, opposite to, there, to the south, before, after, later, afterward, immediately, in the meantime, meanwhile, now, since, soon, then, while, etc.            

Things to avoid

  • Repeated exact match sentences.            
  • Repeated exact match phrases.                
  • Contradictory points/sentences.                              
  • Two consecutive sentences starting with the same word. For example, avoid: “It is a natural product. It is cheap. It is effective”. Instead, use: “The cream is a natural product. It is cheap. The product is effective”

Referencing

Reference must be cited for quotations, definitions, guidelines, author’s name, specific idea or content.

Use an author-date style of referencing. The reference list must include web links to the original sources.  

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