1. Copyediting Medical Content
Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS
#ACES2017

2. Overview What is medical editing? What is medical content?
What editing tools do I need?
What else do I need to know?
How can I learn more?
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

3. What is medical editing?
Editing of materials related to medicine and health
Good medical editors have
Solid basic editing skills
Strong attention to detail
Good editorial judgment
Interest in medicine and science
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

4. What is medical content?
Journals
Books
Individual articles
Funding proposals
Clinical practice guidelines
White papers
Slide decks
Informational brochures
Regulatory documents
Web content
CME courses
Course review materials
General health articles
Disease-specific information
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

5. Medical content areas
Medical research
Medical marketing
Patient education
Medical education

6. Medical research Publication type: Journals Books Individual articles
Funding proposals
Clinical practice guidelines
Audience:
Medical researchers
Clinical practitioners
Who hires editors?
Publishing services companies
Individual authors
Medical centers
Associations
Contract research organizations
Editing tools:
Word
Excel
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

7. Medical marketing Publication type: White papers Slide decks Web pages
Informational brochures
Regulatory documents
Audience:
Clinical practitioners
Patients
Government regulators
Sales teams
Who hires editors?
Medical marketing companies
Pharmaceutical companies
Medical device manufacturers
Contract research organizations
Tools:
Word
PowerPoint
Acrobat or Acrobat Reader
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

8. Patient education Publication type: General health articles
Disease-specific information
Web content
Audience:
Patients and their families
General interest readers
Who hires editors?
Medical centers
Advocacy associations
Web content providers
Tools:
Word
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

9. Medical education Publication type: CME modules Review summaries
Audience:
Clinical practitioners
Medical students
Who hires editors?
CME providers
Publishing companies
Professional associations
Medical centers
Tools:
Word
Online editing software
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

10. What editing tools do I need?
Software:
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Acrobat or Acrobat Reader
Web browser
Stedman’s Medical/Pharmaceutical Spellchecker add-on for Word
Style:
AMA 10th edition
Stedman’s medical dictionary
Merriam-Webster 11th edition
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

11. Other resources Some free file-handling tools:
Send large files WeTransfer,
Unlock PDF files for annotation FreeMyPDF,
Scan for plagiarized text PlagScan,
Check readability level StoryToolz,
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

12. Other resources Some medical content tools:
PubMed database of biomedical literature
ClinicalTrials.gov registry of biomedical clinical trials
US National Library of Medicine, “Help Me Understand Genetics”
HUGO gene nomenclature database
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

13. What else do I need to know?
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

14. What else do I need to know?
Medical terminology
Structure of research content
Reporting results
References
Publication ethics
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

15. Medical terminology Nomenclature (see AMA chapters 14 and 15)
Humanizing language (see AMA 11.1, “case”)
Victimizing language (AMA )
Regulatory language
English as a second language
Author queries
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

16. Structure of research content
IMRDC: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion
Author guidelines
Levels of evidence
evidence-march-2009/
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17. Reporting results Statistics (see AMA 20.9 and 20.10) Tables Figures
Abstract
Supplementary materials
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18. References Reference format Index Medicus (eg, N Engl J Med)
Bellmunt J, de Wit R, Vaughn DJ, et al. Pembrolizumab as second-line therapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2017;376(11): doi: /NEJMoa
Index Medicus (eg, N Engl J Med)
PubMed,
Impact factor
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19. Publication ethics Author contributions
Acknowledgment of substantive contributions
Disclosure of funding support and conflicts of interest
Plagiarism
Predatory publishers
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

20. How can I learn more? Style
AMA Manual of Style free quizzes and answer keys online quizzes;jsessionid=3BA43F7E9C8D205AC714D2838A9C617B
ACES 2012 handout: “How to Learn a Style Guide in 10 Days”
EditorMom blog: “How to Teach Yourself AMA Style” ama-style.html

21. How can I learn more? Associations
American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)
AMWA New Medical Writers Toolkit
Council of Science Editors (CSE)
National Association of Science Writers (NASW)
Association of Health Care Journalists
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

22. How can I learn more? Certifications
Editor in the Life Sciences (ELS) from the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS)
Medical Writer Certified (MWC) from AMWA
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,

23. How can I learn more? Some certificate programs
AMWA certificates
University of California San Diego Extension medical writing certificate
University of Chicago Graham School of General Studies medical writing and editing certificate
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24. Copyediting Medical Content
Thank you! Please feel free to contact me with comments and questions following the session.
Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS
#ACES2017 / Jeni Crockett-Holme, ELS,