436                                                                                                           COMMENTARY
                    Organising a journal club                                                                 International research and collabora-                     Postgrad Med J: first published as 10.1136/pgmj.2004.022657 on 5 August 2004. Downloaded from 
                    .......................................................................................   tions are becoming more numerous,
                                                                                                              linking developed and developing coun-
                    Organising an English journal club in                                                     tries   in   more    firm   relationships.
                                                                                                              Providing time for foreign researchers
                    the developing world                                                                      to practise oral English in the context
                                                                                                              of science and their professional niche
                                                                                                              builds capacity for future international
                    J Tucker, X Gao, S Wang, Q Chen, Y Yin, X Chen                                            cooperative projects. Since English is the
                    ...................................................................................       chief language used at international
                                                                                                              scientific meetings, gaining oral and
                    English language journal clubs are fundamental for teaching and                           listening skills at a journal club could
                    collaboration in developing areas                                                         help to improve the quality of such
                                                                                                              presentations. In addition, since ethics
                                                                                                              and research guidelines for human
                        he medical journal club remains at       currently have English speaking journal      subjects are not routinely a part of many
                        the heart of evidence based medi-        clubs.                                       developing nations’ medical training
                    Tcine among teaching institutions.             Although there are barriers to creat-      systems, the journal club introduces a
                    Previous reviews have analysed the           ing English journal clubs in nations         venue for discussing these important
                    importance of journal clubs in English       where English is the second language,        issues. If ethics and informed consent
                    speaking nations.1–3 A meta-analysis         the benefits of establishing such mental     procedure are only mentioned in the
                    of postgraduate journal clubs using          exercises are considerable. Beyond the       context of imminent research that could
                    Cochrane-like criteria for selection of      benefits   already   discussed,    journal   bring significant funds and support to a
                    papers established that journal clubs        clubs provide a valuable opportunity to      developing research centre, frank dis-
                    broaden a postgraduate student’s sense       enhance    communication      skills  and    cussions are more challenging. If ethics
                    of clinical epidemiology and biostatis-      English proficiency within a discipline.     are discussed as part of each paper
                    tics, reading habits, and using medical
                    literature in clinical situations.4 Previous
                    analysis in this area has weighed heavily      Box 1: Starting an English language journal club where English is
                    on the side of English speaking journal        the second language
                    clubs in nations where English fluency
                    is assumed. This commentary explores           N All articles chosen must be in English and meet the criteria described
                    the role of the English journal club              above.
                    outside of areas where English is the          N The presenter should be encouraged to read several articles regarding a
                    mother tongue. Three central questions            topic before choosing a single article to share with the group.
                    are discussed:
                                                                   N The presenter should arrange an overview of important terms with native
                    (1)Whydosofewnationswhere                         language/English translation, providing copies to all members of the
                        English is the second language have           journal club at least three days beforehand. Presenters should be
                        English journal clubs?                        encouraged to email papers if more convenient, or post on a web page.                             http://pmj.bmj.com/
                    (2) What are the relative advantages of        N All members of the journal club should read the paper in advance and
                        promoting English journal clubs in            bring five questions in English.
                        these nations?                             N During the journal club, the presenter should show a PowerPoint
                    (3) How can you establish an English              presentation highlighting important aspects of the study and its design.
                        journal club in your hospital?             N Presenters should encourage the involvement of all members of the
                      On a worldwide scale, approximately             journal club, and a professor or facilitator should ensure that all                                on September 20, 2022 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                    325 million people use English as their           participants use their English language skills.
                    mother tongue, and at least twice as           N Suggestions from students and participants should be incorporated to
                    many people speak English as a second             create a flexible programme.
                    or third language.
                      While English journal clubs are rou-
                    tinely a part of postgraduate medicine
                    culture in developed countries, they are
                    rare in developing world hospitals and         Learning points
                    medical training centres. Lack of journal
                    access (print or electronic), lack of time     N While English journal clubs are routinely a part of postgraduate medicine
                    or incentives for doctors to participate,
                    andlackofresourcesmakejournalclubs                culture in developed countries, they are rare in developing world
                    difficult to start in the developing world.       hospitals and medical training centres.
                    Oral English proficiency may also be a         N A regular English journal club nurtures a deeper sense of international
                    problem in many areas, since foreign              ethical principles alongside enhancing communication skills essential for
                    physicians have few opportunities to              multicentre studies and other cooperation.
                    speak English. Journal clubs currently         N English language journal clubs are fundamental to increasing language
                    in progress are more likely to be in the          proficiency, ethical understanding, and international exchanges in
                    native tongue, and focus more on purely
                    clinical considerations. As a result, few         developing areas.
                    institutions in the developing world
                    www.postgradmedj.com
                    COMMENTARY                                                                                                                        437
                    presented and compared to interna-            Institute  of  Mental Health in the           Research institutions in the developing                   Postgrad Med J: first published as 10.1136/pgmj.2004.022657 on 5 August 2004. Downloaded from 
                    tional   standards   referenced    in  the    United States. Before 2003, the only          world without English journal clubs need
                    Declaration of Helsinki,5 the ethical         didactics provided for research students      to consider the advantages of starting
                    requirements of international research        werelectures from professors, both local      such a programme at their hospital or
                    will be more deeply understood. A             and international. During 2003, the           teaching institution.
                    regular English journal club nurtures a       National STD Center started the first         Postgrad Med J 2004;80:436–437.
                    deeper sense of international ethical         journal club of its kind at the centre,       doi: 10.1136/pgmj.2004.022657
                    principles alongside enhancing commu-         focusing on sexually transmitted infec-
                    nication skills essential for multicentre     tions and the most current literature.        ......................
                    studies and other cooperation.                Articles were selected from the English       Authors’ affiliations
                       A case study from the National STD         literature based on the following cri-        J Tucker, X Gao, S Wang, Q Chen, Y Yin,
                    Center (Chinese Academy of Sciences,          teria: (1) medical merit and topic            X Chen, National Center for STD Control,
                    Peking Union Medical College) in              relevance; (2) work is current; and (3)       Nanjing, China
                    Nanjing represents an example from            study design.                                 Correspondence to: Dr Joseph Tucker, National
                    the world’s largest developing country.         English journal clubs need to be well       Center for STD Control, 12 Jiangwangmiao St,
                    Affiliated   with   the   Peking    Union     organised in order to be well attended.       Nanjing, China 210042; Joseph_Tucker@med.
                    Medical College in Beijing, the Insti-        The list of suggestions shown in box 1        unc.edu
                    tute coordinates research for masters         was compiled by the Chinese National
                    and doctoral students in the fields of        STD Center’s weekly journal club in           REFERENCES
                    dermatology and sexually transmitted          order to help those starting new English       1 GibbonsAJ.Organisingasuccessful journal club.
                    infections. Clinical research is central to   journal clubs in nations where English           BMJ 2002;325:s137–8.
                    its mission as a teaching institution. The    is the second language.                        2 Gonzalez LS. Referees make journal clubs fun.
                    library and computer facilities present         English language journal clubs are             BMJ 2003;326:106.
                    allow access to all major medical jour-       fundamental to increasing language pro-        3 Alguire PC. A review of journal clubs in
                                                                                                                   postgraduate medical education. J Gen Intern
                    nals and to texts in dermatology and          ficiency,  ethical  understanding,    and        Med 1998;13:347–53.
                    sexually   transmitted infections.     The    international exchanges in developing          4 Ebbert JO, Montori VM, Schultz HJ. The journal
                    National STD Center cooperates with           areas. Especially in national research cen-      club in postgraduate medical education: a
                                                                                                                   systematic review. Med Teach 2001;23:455–61.
                    several international research organisa-      tres or institutions with international        5 World Medical Association. Declaration of
                    tions, receiving funds from international     grants or foreign support, establishing a        Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research
                    agencies including the National Ins-          disciplinary English journal club lays the       involving human subjects. Available at: http://
                                                                                                                   www.wma.net/e/policy/pdf/17c.pdf (cited 11
                    titutes  of Health and the National           foundation for a sound collaboration.            March 2004).
                                                                                                                                                                          http://pmj.bmj.com/
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