DDS Elementary Style: A Brief Guide for Authors

Excerpt

Medical writing entails a vocabulary and idiomatic style rarely used elsewhere. Integrating the shorthand, abbreviations, colloquialisms, and initialisms used in clinical care with the technical terms and phraseology intrinsic to the field, medical writing has the potential to be stilted, wordy, and confusing. As Editor-in-Chief of Digestive Diseases and Sciences, I am responsible for not only the published content but also the form and style in which the content is written. I have taken this responsibility literally for all of the editorials, much of the content of the special sections, and all of the DDS Distinguished Digestive Seminars published, which are edited for English usage, grammar, syntax, and style in addition to content. Although somewhat time consuming, this exercise not only helps me stay abreast of the journal’s content, but also has enabled the journal to cultivate a distinctive style that I hope will be pleasing and helpful to our readership. …