Enhancing the mission of academic surgery by promoting scientific writing skills

Writing and publishing are key to career development and academic success for surgeons who have less time than ever to devote to these activities. To improve the scientific writing skills of its faculty and trainees and to help them complete their manuscripts and grant proposals more quickly, the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) established a service dedicated to scientific writing and editing. Through coursework in scientific writing, individual writing consultations, and editorial review, the service helps academic surgeons with the difficult tasks of writing and publishing their research and seeking extramural funding. The service has rapidly become a successful adjunct to the academic mission of the UCSF Department of Surgery and could offer a model for other academic surgery departments to increase scientific productivity and advance the academic surgical mission.