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‘Letters to the editor’ are a great way to practice critically analysing of-healthcare-
research, providing your own perspective and writing a response. leadership-analysis-

Picking up a journal in medical education is a great place to start, of-the-messenger-

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but any journal in the �elds you are interested in will be suitable.
Read the articles and write a medical-student perspective in reply HLA Scholars
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rules regarding the correct form and content of your letter. The support Muslim
Women looking to
editors want to know what medical students have to say, and so
build a career in
do their readers. It counts as a publication when you apply for the
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What types of articles can you submit as a student?  scholars-implement-
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The simplest and quickest way to publish is to write a letter to muslim-women-

reply to articles from any journal on any topic of your choice. Some looking-to-build-
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letters are a direct reply to an article that has already been
%ef%bf%bc/)
published in the journal, while others could be about a new topic
Dr Jack Harding from
that you are passionate about. Journals want the opinion of
Medics.Academy
medical students, especially when it comes to medical education. 
wins an Extraordinary
People Award from
Beyond writing a simple letter to the editor, you could instead aim The Royal Devon
for a full text publication. These take far longer to write, but are University Healthcare

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registrar positions. 
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Taking the British Medical Journal as an example, we will explain
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CATEGORIES
could be about a speci�c drug, overall research problems, new
research �ndings, government and healthcare and the list goes Select Category 
on.

More speci�cations on BMJ Student (https://www.bmj.com

/student) can be found on the website.
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Publishing as a Medical Student:
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Select Month 
How to Write a Letter to the Editor

Step 1: Open the letter with a simple salutation

A simple “To the Editor:” is su�cient! 

Step 2: Grab the reader’s attention

To grab the attention of your reader, you have to make your

opening sentence a strong, bold, creative and maybe even add a
tinge of humour! Tell readers what the letter is about and compel
them to continue reading.

Step 3: Start with explaining what the letter is about

Tell the reader why you are writing this letter, what is it all about?
We don’t need a long-winded story, highlight the main points and
facts from the very beginning. 

Step 4: Why is this issue is important?
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Next, explain to the reader why what you’re talking about is so
important! Make the reader appreciate the importance of the topic
even though it may not have been something they were interested
in or realise the signi�cance of before reading your letter! Explain
this in lay man terms for all readers to comprehend. 

Step 5: Give evidence for any praise or criticism

If you are writing a letter discussing a past or pending action, be

clear in showing why this will have good or bad results in the given
context. What changes should be made to current actions? What
are the consequences of past action? Who will these actions
affect? 

Step 6: State your opinion about what should be done

You can write a letter just to ”vent,” or to support or criticize a

certain position, but you may also have suggestions about what
could be done to improve the situation. What suggestions do you
have to improve the current situations and how can this be
achieved? 

How to get published?

Shorter letters have a better chance of being published. Can

anything in your letter be cut or condensed? If you have you have a
lot to say, you may want to check with the editor to see if you could
write a longer opinion feature or guest column.

Journals publish letters that are well-written and articulate, and

that either represent speci�c points of view on an issue, or that
thoughtfully analyse complex issues and events. Stay away from
ranting about your personal thoughts. Address issues in a calm
and rational way!

Sign the letter

Be sure to write your full name (and title, if relevant) and to include
your address, phone number, and e-mail address.


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Examples of Medical Journals

Medical Education Journals

1. Academic Medicine (https://journals.lww.com

/academicmedicine/pages/default.aspx)
2. Medical Education (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal
/13652923)
3. Advances in Health Sciences Education
(https://www.springer.com/journal/10459)
4. Medical Teacher: An International Journal of Education in the
Health Sciences (http://www.medicalteacher.org
/MEDTEACH_wip/pages/home.htm)
5. Teaching and Learning in Medicine
(https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/htlm20)
�. Journal of Medical Ethics (https://jme.bmj.com/)
7. Medical Education Online (https://www.tandfonline.com
/loi/zmeo20)
�. BMC Medical Education
(https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/)
9. MedEdPORTAL: The Journal of Teaching and Learning
Resources (https://www.mededportal.org/)
10. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development
(https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mde)
11. British Medical Journal (BMJ) (https://www.bmj.com/)
12. The New England Journal of Medicine (https://www.nejm.org/)
13. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama)
14. The Lancet (https://www.thelancet.com/)
15. PLOS Medicine (https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine
/volume)

Author: Sherie George

Sherie George is a 4th year medical

student at the University of Dundee.

She’s an international student from

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Singapore and has a First Class
Honours degree in Biomedical Science.
Her personal interests are medical
education, rheumatology, oncology,
haematology and Obstetrics.

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