PubMed or Pushcart?: A Comparative Analysis of Publication Options for Medical Poetry and Prose

Short prose and poetry with medical themes can either be published in literary magazines or in the creative sections of academic medical journals, but little has been done to outline the differences between these two outlets. In this preliminary study, we examine the submission, editorial, and distribution processes of 10 popular literary magazines and 10 medical journals with creative sections. While literary magazines unanimously encourage authors to submit manuscripts simultaneously to multiple journals due to long response times and low acceptance rates, medical journals require authors to submit their pieces to a single journal at a time. In turn, medical journals advertise shorter response times and higher acceptance rates compared to their literary counterparts. In addition, literary magazines are more likely to identify the editors or readers who contribute to acceptance decisions, while medical journals operate under peer review and oftentimes keep reviewers anonymous. Little clarity exists about how medical journals tailor peer-review guidelines to evaluate creative submissions in contrast to original research. Given the calls for greater integration of the arts and humanities into medicine, understanding the differences between literary and academic medical publishing is crucial to authors whose work rests at the intersection of these two fields.