“Writing for Publication” (W4P): Three-year Implementation and Evaluation of a Seminar-style Longitudinal Course in Scientific Writing for Academic Neurology
Jorge Patino Murillas1, Galina Gheihman2, Daniel Talmasov3, Brendan Huang4, Emma Loebel5, Emma Vivlamore6, Roy Strowd7, Robert Gross8
1University of Cincinnati, 2Brigham & Women's Hospital, 3Columbia University, 4Northwell Health, 5NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 6Mayo Clinic, 7Wake Forest School of Medicine, 8University of Rochester
Objective:
Describe the design, implementation, and evaluation over three years of a longitudinal, synchronous, online seminar series to enhance academic writing skills.
Background:
Academic writing is vital for disseminating research and advancing careers. “Writing for Publication” (W4P) trains junior and early-career clinician scholars in neurology to write effective scientific manuscripts by considering the perspectives of editors, reviewers, and readers.
Design/Methods:
W4P began in 2023 with residents and fellows, expanded to include early-career clinical neurologists in 2024, and further to all early-career faculty in the neurosciences in 2025. W4P offers eight 75-minute discussion-based seminars, organized by major manuscript sections (e.g., Introduction, Methods), led by current and former neurology journal editors. Participants were recruited through online announcements and faculty networks, and they completed an application with a self-assessment of their writing skills. They were encouraged to apply their learning to a personal writing project during the course. Program evaluation included post-session and end-of-course surveys that informed changes annually.
Results:
75 participants (15 in 2023, 33 in 2024, and 27 in 2025) completed the course. Only 14% had prior training in scientific writing. Across three years, 92.2% rated the course quality ³8/10 overall. Baseline comfort was lowest for “writing a discussion”, which showed the greatest gain (+35.8%), followed by “writing an abstract” (+23.8%). Participants’ feedback included incorporating personal projects, providing outlines and end-of-session notes, recording sessions for asynchronous access, and prioritizing early-career participants with limited writing experience. New elements included adding a session on responding to reviewers (2024) and a course website for materials and engagement (2025).
Conclusions:
W4P addresses a gap in training academic writers. It has expanded and evolved over three years, encouraging participants to apply lessons to their own writing projects. The free, online format increases accessibility for a diverse early-career audience and has demonstrated sustainability. Future research should evaluate participants’ scholarly output longitudinally.
Disclaimer: Abstracts were not reviewed by Neurology® and do not reflect the views of Neurology® editors or staff.