Writing Support Group for Medical School Faculty-A Simple Way to Do It

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Academic Publishing
• Scholarly Communication

Background:

• Faculty writing for publication is crucial but challenging.
• Traditional writing support programs are often resource-intensive and time-consuming.
• Faculty, especially clinicians, may prioritize occasional publications over high-volume output.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish and evaluate a low-resource writing program.
• To focus on individual acceptance rates rather than total publications.
• To support faculty in achieving their personal publication goals.

Main Methods:

• An informal, monthly writing group was created within a family medicine department.
• Members shared paper ideas and drafts for peer critique and suggestions.
• No formal mentorship, courses, or writing assistants were provided.

Main Results:

• 86% of papers reviewed by the group were accepted for publication.
• 94% of accepted papers were published in their first-submitted journal.
• Individual members achieved an average publication acceptance rate of 79%.

Conclusions:

• Informal, low-resource writing programs can effectively support medical faculty publication.
• The program fostered collegial interactions and peer feedback.
• Interdisciplinary membership (clinicians and PhDs) enhanced manuscript development.