The AMWA Journal (ISSN 1075-6361) is the official publication of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). Delivered quarterly in online or print editions to AMWA members and subscribers, the AMWA Journal aims to be an authoritative, comprehensive source of information about the knowledge, skills, and opportunities in the field of biomedical communication worldwide. It is a peer-reviewed publication that is free to AMWA members. The current editor is Lori Alexander, MTPW, ELS.
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The history of the AMWA Journal is closely tied to the history of the AMWA, which had its roots in the Mississippi Valley Medical Editors Association (MVMEA). The MVMEA published The Mississippi Valley Medical Journal, which became the official journal of AMWA when AMWA absorbed MVMEA.[1] In 1951, the Bulletin of the American Medical Writers Association was first published quarterly.[2] The Bulletin continued into the 1960s, but some years saw more issues than others. In 1970 the AMWA Newsletter was introduced, and the editor wrote that "the inaugural issue benefited from several months of organizational silence and the leftovers of the defunct Bulletin."[2] In 1972, the first issue of Medical Communications was published. By the late 1970s, the AMWA Newsletter was merged into Medical Communications, and, in 1985, the Board of Directors of AMWA voted to produce one official journal. The first issue of the AMWA Journal was published in the fall of 1986, with Ronald Sanchez as editor-in-chief.[2]
The journal publishes feature articles, Science Series articles, Practical Matters articles, coverage of meeting sessions/chapter events, letters to the editor, media reviews, and a freelance forum. Regular contributors are Edie Schwager in her "Dear Edie" column and Arnold Melnick, DO, MSc, DHL(hon), FACOP, in his "Melnick on Writing" column.
The AMWA Journal is selectively indexed in the CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) database and the Modern Language Association International Bibliography.[3]