Co-creating scholarship through collaborative writing in health professions education: AMEE Guide No. 143

Abstract

This AMEE guide provides a robust framework and practical strategies for health professions educators to enhance their writing skills and engage in successful scholarship within a collaborative writing team. Whether scholarly output involves peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, blogs and online posts, online educational resources, collaborative writing requires more than the usual core writing skills, it requires teamwork, leadership and followership, negotiation, and conflict resolution, mentoring and more. Whilst educators can attend workshops or courses to enhance their writing skills, there may be fewer opportunities to join a community of scholars and engage in successful collaborative writing. There is very little guidance on how to find, join, position oneself and contribute to a writing group. Once individuals join a group, further questions arise as to how to contribute, when and whom to ask for help, whether their contribution is significant, and how to move from the periphery to the centre of the group. The most important question of all is how to translate disparate ideas into a shared key message and articulate it clearly. In this guide, we describe the value of working within a collaborative writing group; reflect on principles that anchor the concept of writing as a team and guide team behaviours; suggest explicit strategies to overcome challenges and promote successful writing that contributes to and advances the field; and review challenges to starting, maintaining, and completing writing tasks. We approach writing through three lenses: that of the individual writer, the writing team, and the scholarly product, the ultimate goal being meaningful contributions to the field of Health Professions Education.

Keywords:

• Continuing
• collaborative/peer-to-peer
• staff development
• mentoring
• leadership

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Box 1. Boyer’s expanded definitions of scholarship, applicable to all types of writing products.

• The scholarship of discovery refers to original research that provides new knowledge, adds to existing knowledge in an area or challenges current knowledge in a discipline such as HPE.

• The scholarship of integration, gaining visibility in the era of interprofessional healthcare education, relates to making connections across disciplines and aims to stimulate a more integrated use of knowledge.

• The scholarship of application refers to the application of knowledge to real-life problems of individuals or of society, in this case, learners, teachers, institutions and all other educational stakeholders.

• The scholarship of teaching is not about transmitting information to learners but should involve transformative learning and stimulate critical thinking and lifelong learning.

• The scholarship of engagement includes sharing knowledge with peers and future scholars, aiming to tackle broader humane goals that address societal, global, and ethical challenges.

Box 2 Harnessing diversity within a collaborative writing group.

1. Include people with varied perspectives deliberately and purposefully.

2. Showcase a broad range of views within the scholarly product.

3. Reach consensus when necessary, but not all writings need a uniform perspective; multiple views are equally important to communicate.

4. Respect multiple opinions from many levels of experience.

5. Embrace a variety of perspectives about social reality (ontology) and nature of and ways of constructing knowledge (epistemology).

6. Create inclusive and person-centered leadership to provide a safe psychological space, model respect for differing opinions and welcome diversity.

Box 4 Four criteria for authorship.

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND

3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Box 3 Questions for self-reflection before engaging in collaborative writing.

To engage in collaborative writing, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are your areas of expertise?

2. What is your level of passion for this subject and form of writing?

3. What comes naturally to you?

4. What do you have time for? 

5. What type of topics/publications are more/less suitable for collaborative writing?

6. What type of contributions are you most likely to make?

7. What team are you considering joining and what do you expect to learn from it?

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Subha Ramani

Subha Ramani, MBBS, MMEd, PhD, FAMEE, is Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA; Honorary Professor of Medical Education, University of Manchester, UK.

Judy McKimm

Judy McKimm, MBA, MA, BA, PGDip, Cert ED, FAMEE, FAoME, SFHEA, is Emeritus Professor of Medical Education at Swansea University Medical School, Wales, UK.

Kirsty Forrest

Kirsty Forrest, MBCHB, BSc Hons, FRCA FAcadMEd, MMEd, FANZCA, is a Professor of Medical Education and Dean of Medicine at Bond University, Queensland, Australia.

Richard Hays

Richard Hays, MD, PhD, FRACGP, FANZAHPE, FAoME, FAMEE, is Professor of Remote Health and medicine at James Cook University, Australia.

Jo Bishop

Jo Bishop, BSc (Hons), PhD, PGCertEd is the Curriculum Lead for the Bond University Medical Program and Associate Dean, Student Affairs and Service Quality (SASQ) for the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia.

Harish Thampy

Harish Thampy, MBChB, FRCGP, MSc, PFHEA, is a Professor of Medical Education in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester, UK.

Ardi Findyartini

Ardi Findyartini, MD, PhD, is the Head of Medical Education Unit; Head of Cluster, Centre for Medical Education, Indonesia Medical Education and Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Vishna Devi Nadarajah

Vishna Devi Nadarajah, BSc (Hons), MHPE, PhD, is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education and Institutional Development at the International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Rashmi Kusurkar

Rashmi Kusurkar, MBBS, MD, PhD, FAMEE, is an Associate Professor and Research Programme Leader, Amsterdam UMC, Research in Education at the Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Keith Wilson

Keith Wilson, BA, MD, PhD, CCFP, FCFP, is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Chair of Assessment at Dalhousie University, Canada.

Helena Filipe

Helena Filipe, MD, MMEd, FSACME, FAMEE, is a Consultant of Ophthalmology at Hospital Egas Moniz, West Lisbon Hospitals Center (NHS); collaborates with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon; and integrates the Directive Board of the College of Ophthalmology, Portugal.

Elizabeth Kachur

Elizabeth Kachur, PhD, FAMEE, is the Director of Medical Education Development, Global Consulting, New York, USA.