Edward Towpik, Wojciech M. Wysocki
Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center, Warsaw and Krakow, Poland
One of the principal aims of EASE is to promote and improve scientific writing and editing skills in various geographical locations. We present our experience in extending this into the medical field in Poland.
The contact of senior author (ET) with EASE was initiated by his correspondence with Maeve O’Connor in the late 1990s and subsequent participation in the Helsinki Conference (1997). The wealth of knowledge gained there, and through regular study of European Science Editing (then called the “Bulletin”) and other sources, was subsequently used in a series of lectures and tutorials, initially with clinical and basic science oncologists. The “Uniform requirements” were translated into Polish for the first time and widely popularized, together with our own teaching publications on proper scientific writing in medicine.
Elisabeth Heseltine’s “Workshops in scientific communication” were organized each year in Warsaw between 2001 and 2005, and “How to be a successful journal editor”, with international attendance, was run by Pippa Smart in 2011. The 9thEASE Conference “The culture of science editing” took place in Cracow, Poland, in 2006. This meeting attracted local science editors and promoted EASE’s goals as well as standards in the Polish scientific community.
These activities were substantially supported by the membership of the senior author on the Editorial Board (later – Publications Committee) of European Science Editing (2000-2006), and on the EASE Council (2009-2012).
The role of EASE in promoting and improving proper scientific writing and editing skills among medical profession in Poland through last 15 years is acknowledged and highly appreciated.