Interlude: Illusion of Prestige, Misleading Numbers, and Simultaneous Submissions
Over the years, I've noticed an interesting pattern: when writing papers, we can mistake complexity for insight.
We've all seen (or written) papers that are wordy, use longer words than necessary, and bury ideas in convoluted phrasing.
In many cases, this style of writing comes from the desire to show expertise and depth. But this desire can cause us to associate complexity with prestige.
But complexity only gives the illusion of prestige.
Real prestige is rooted in wisdom—in the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. And that includes our writing.
So to show real prestige in your writing, distill the simple from the complex so your insight shines brightest and connects with readers.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
How to Remember What You Read
Have you read a book only to forget the key insights later? Or have you felt frustrated while searching pages for a memorable passage you read? In this video, you'll learn my practical system to recall, synthesize, and easily locate ideas from any book. Whether you’re reading for study, personal growth, or professional development, this system will help you make each book a lasting resource that you can refer to again and again.
📆 Upcoming
Adapt Your Writing for a Changing Scientific Climate – September 4, 2025 @ 11 am PT Join me for a free live masterclass, where you’ll get insight on what to consider in the changing scientific climate, strategies for optimizing your communication in the current moment, and a roadmap to adapt your writing—no matter what happens next.
👓 Reading
Leaving out numbers in medical communication may mislead patients
"…a team of researchers and clinicians explained that patients often overestimate risk estimates, like possible side effects or medical conditions, when given only verbal descriptions. They encourage doctors not to shy away from including numbers, offering a list of five science-backed tricks on how to make those numbers count."
Simultaneous submissions without simultaneous peer review
"The proposed method…allows a researcher to submit to multiple journals at the same time—increasing the chances of getting speedier initial journal interest and allowing researchers to choose between interested journals—but then avoids overlapping review by requiring the researcher to give the right to proceed to peer review (and eventual publication) to only one journal. The proposed method is meant to work side-by-side with, not replace, the single submission system."
Could a novelty indicator improve science?
". . . I’ve been stumped by the fact that there are no good ways to measure novelty. Without good indicators, researchers can’t assess the prevalence of original papers or their value in scientific progress. . .That’s why the UK Metascience Unit has partnered with the non-profit organization RAND Europe; the Sussex Sci-ence Policy Research Unit; and the publisher Elsevier, to launch MetaNIC. . . a competition to produce and validate indicators for scientific novelty in academic papers. Running until November, MetaNIC is open to researchers all around the world. Participants will design novelty assessments and test them over a set of 50,000 research papers, drawn from many fields."
🎓 Training
Realign Your CME Writing Path for Growth – September 3, 2025
If you’re a medical writer curious about continuing medical education, this free event is a gem. My colleague Alexandra Howson is hosting a live online masterclass to help you build a sustainable, purpose-driven CME writing—with tools that actually support growth.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
