Scientific Articles

Patient groups may want to collaborate with medical professionals on scientific articles which might be published in journals or online. Scientific articles can raise awareness of a condition and improve the future management of the disease.

Whether the article is discussing current clinical practice and treatment options, potential future treatments, or the unmet needs of patients, it is important that the scientific article provides both a scientific and a patient perspective. Collaboration therefore enables patient groups and medical professionals to share their specialist knowledge, both with each other and a wider audience.

Patient groups can share their knowledge of how disease diagnosis, treatment and management impact patients’ everyday lives. A patient perspective on a scientific article can help to highlight aspects of their care that could be improved.

Medical professionals can share their knowledge of the disease area, including the course of the disease and its treatments. A medical perspective on a scientific article can maximise the impact of the article:

• If your collaboration partner has experience in scientific publishing, they can help you get through the tricky process of submitting your paper.
• As medical professionals have a good understanding of the area in which they work, they will be able to provide insight into the most appropriate journal or conference to approach with your work, to give it maximum impact.
• Authorship matters! Having the name of a medical expert on a scientific article will give it additional credibility and boost its profile.

Specialist Meetings

Patient groups might want to collaborate with medical professionals at specialist meetings such as scientific and medical meetings, talks or conferences. As medical professionals are experts in discussing their field with their peers, collaborating at a specialist meeting can help to effectively provide a patient perspective on the daily impact and experiences of the disease with the wider scientific and medical communities.

Patients can provide information to medical professionals prior to the meetings, so that the medical professional can later present patient experiences at the meeting. Alternatively, patients can attend the meetings themselves to directly share their experiences of living with the disease to the group of medical professionals.