Encouraging Students and Trainees to Write

Publications from Japan have been on the decline, and this tendency is expected to continue as the country’s population decreases. During the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it was discovered that Japanese medical trainees published much fewer papers than trainees from other nations. This issue must be addressed by the entire Japanese medical community. Trainees have the potential to contribute to the medical community through their publishing process presenting fresh perspectives and communicating accurate information to the public through the use of social media. Furthermore, trainees themselves would benefit as they would become more enhanced by deeply and critically considering the contents and the trends of publications worldwide, which would promote further implementation of evidence-based medicine. Therefore, medical educators and students should be motivated and encouraged to write by offering enough instructional and publication opportunities. Such measures would be to (1) train students in “medical writing” as part of the medical curriculum; (2) encourage medical students and trainees to submit of manuscripts, especially in the section of the letters, opinions, and case reports; (3) guarantee trainees time and resources to write; (4) provide as constructive reviews and comments as possible as an educational opportunity for trainees; and (5) motivate trainees to write. Such hands-on training would necessitate significant efforts of the trainees, instructors, and publishers. However, if we cannot invest in fostering future resources now, we may not be able to hope for increase in the amount of research published from Japan. The future lies in everybody’s hands.