The Journal of the European Medical Writers Association

From the editor’s desk: The theme of this issue of TWS is ‘scientific ’ writing. The issue gathers together thought-provoking articles that dis-cuss current writing practices and articles that offer valu-able guidance on improving writing style. In this editorial I take more space than usual to consider the background for the traditional ‘scientific style ’ of writing, the warnings for those who support this tradition and how we as medical writers can contribute to a future of readability and clari-ty in medical reports. Scientific writing, including medical writing, is a marvel. In a world of marketing slogans and sound-bites, archaic text flourishes in scientific journals and overflows into reg-ulatory documents. This editorial concentrates on journa