Might you be the next Editorial Fellow?

Few physicians choose to deliver medicine as a monologue. Most of us look forward to and rely on dialogue with our colleagues to validate, illuminate and occasionally amuse us. It is the role of medical journals to contain such dialogue and the responsibility of their editors to foster it through diligent attention to timeliness, relevance and accuracy. Editors influence the way medical arts and science appear in journals and contribute to the structure, process and emphases of medical dialogue.

Two years ago CMAJ initiated a 12-month fellowship program1 to train recent medical graduates in medical editing. The Editorial Fellow resides in Ottawa and assumes a wide range of editorial responsibilities. These include appraising and editing manuscripts, communicating with authors and peer reviewers, writing, developing special series, representing the perspectives of new physicians and residents in the editorial process and participating in all aspects of the running of the journal. Through exposure to current trends and controversies in medical editing, such as the limitations of the peer review system2 and the implications of electronic editing,3 the Editorial Fellow has the opportunity to develop insights and conduct original research on aspects of medical editing. Editorial fellows are encouraged during their fellowship year to take courses in epidemiology and statistics at the University of Ottawa and a course in medical editing offered by the Council of Biology Editors.4

The ideal candidate enjoys writing, has some experience with research and critical appraisal and is enthusiastic about and stimulated by advancing medical dialogue.

The fellowship is for 1 year, starting July 1, 2000. Candidates may be recent medical graduates, part-way through a residency program (in which case they would take a leave of absence for the duration of the fellowship), or interested in adding a year to a completed residency program. Salary is based on the equivalent residency remuneration in Ontario.

The deadline for applications is Dec. 15, 1999. Interested candidates may find the references below[5–7] helpful as they consider the question, Might you be the next Editorial Fellow? Details on applying are given in the advertisement below and on our Web site at www.cma.ca/cmaj. You are also welcome to contact the current Editorial Fellow at 800 663-7336 x2095 or at weirer{at};cma.ca.