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    Fostering Scholarship in Medical Education: Resources for Authors and Reviewers

    Scholarship drives the practice of medical education forward, affecting how we educate trainees and ourselves, what we know about each other and our institutions, and how we identify and close gaps in our understanding of important topics. The AAMC supports scholars and their work through its journals and professional development offerings and its role connecting people and convening groups from across the community.

    Below you’ll find a curated set of resources to advance your work as a health professions education researcher, writer, and reviewer. All resources are available to access and download for free unless otherwise noted.

    This list is but a sample of the resources available to support scholars in their work. If you use other (free) resources, we want to know! E-mail icollaborative@aamc.org with a link to the resource and a brief description of it and why it’s helpful to you. We’ll update this page periodically with new and newly uncovered resources.

    Getting Started

    Sometimes figuring out where to start can seem impossible. These resources will guide you through the before, during, and after processes of conducting research. They’re the perfect place to begin for those new or newly returned to health professions education scholarship.

    Writing Up Your Work

    Writing up your work can take time, and there is an art to communicating your argument and findings. These resources will help you improve your writing, no matter the type of publication.

    Submitting Your Work

    Once your work is written up, it’s time to submit it for publication. These resources guide you through the submission process.

    • The Annotated Bibliography of Journals for Educational Scholarship includes information about the manuscript types, topics, and audience for more than 75 journals that publish educational scholarship.

    • In this webinar recording, A Roadmap for Publishing Health Professions Education Scholarship, speakers introduce viewers to the evolving landscape of publishing in health professions education, provide examples of how to think through the available publishing opportunities, and highlight resources authors can use to prepare their work for submission.

    • The Academic Medicine For Authors webpage is a “hub” for information about Academic Medicine, its submission types, and writing and editing in general.

    • The MedEdPORTAL Authors webpage is a “hub” for information about preparing and submitting to MedEdPORTAL.

    • The 5-part Tips for Addressing Reviewer Comments blog series shares suggestions for how to successfully address reviewer comments, from the literature, longtime Academic Medicine authors, editorial board members, and the editorial staff, to help you navigate this challenging (but exciting!) part of the publication process. 

    Professional Development Opportunities

    The AAMC also offers workshops, certificate programs, and in-person learning opportunities. These training opportunities will help you grow your skillset and advance your career as a scholar.

    • The Scholarly Publishing Webinar Series, co-sponsored by Academic Medicine and MedEdPORTAL, covers the importance of publishing your education scholarship and practical suggestions for how to do so successfully. Monthly sessions include interactive exercises to practice what you have learned and time for Q&A with the featured speakers. All are invited to attend.  

    • The Medical Education Research Certificate (MERC) Program is intended to help participants understand the purposes and processes of medical education research, become informed consumers of the medical education literature, and be effective collaborators in research projects. Six three-hour workshops are needed to complete the program. Workshops and program completion have a fee.

    • The Medical Education Scholarship Research and Evaluation (MESRE) Section of the Group on Education Affairs (GEA) is focused on enhancing the quality of medical education research and promoting its application to education practice.

    • MedEdPORTAL Faculty Mentors serve as liaisons within their institutions. They provide guidance to faculty who are interested in submitting to MedEdPORTAL. Find a Faculty Mentor at your institution or sign up to be one yourself on the Faculty Mentor webpage.

    • The Last Page “Hit the Ground Running: Engaging Early-Career Medical Educators in Scholarly Activity” offers strategies for educators to engage in scholarly work early in their career.

    Voices from the Community

    These blog posts, videos, and podcasts share insights from leading scholars on their work and the field of health professions education research.

    Blog Posts

    Video

    Podcasts

    • In the Advice from a Master Peer Reviewer episode of the Academic Medicine Podcast, Carl Stevens, MD, MPH, a master reviewer and a 10-time winner of the Academic Medicine Excellence in Reviewing Award, discusses his practice for evaluating a scholarly article as a peer reviewer. 

    • In the Writing Effectively and Navigating the Publication Process episode of the Academic Medicine Podcast, the journal's editors share their advice for authors submitting their scholarship for publication and describe what they look for when they’re reviewing submissions. While the advice comes from the editors of Academic Medicine, much of it also applies to other types of medical education scholarship, to scholarly publishing in other disciplines, and to submissions to other journals and publications.  

    • In other episodes of the Academic Medicine Podcast, guests delve deeper into the issues shaping medical schools and teaching hospitals to complement articles published in the journal. Some episodes offer first-person perspectives from trainees and others as they experience the science and the art of medicine. Subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

    • In the Key Literature in Medical Education (KeyLIME) podcast, the hosts discuss the content, method, and implications of key articles from the medical education literature in 30 minutes or less. 

    • In the How to Flex your MedEd Scholarship Muscles episode of the Curbsiders Teach podcast, Bernice Ruo, MD, joins hosts Era Kryzhanovskaya, MD, and Molly Heublein, MD, to discuss practical advice for becoming a medical education scholar. 

    Reviewing Resources

    These resources will help you improve your work as a peer reviewer. They also give authors a glimpse into what reviewers are looking for when they evaluate their work.

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