European Medical Writers Association


The European Medical Writers Association was established in 1992 in Brussels, Belgium, as a professional organisation for European medical writers, whether working freelance or in-house at pharmaceutical companies or medical communications companies. Between 1992 and 1998, EMWA was the European chapter of the American Medical Writers Association.
The aim of EMWA is to provide a forum to promote standards of excellence in medical writing by furthering the professional development of members and increasing awareness of medical writing throughout Europe.
EMWA now has over 800 members from 27 countries, and includes academics and professionals working in-house or freelance for pharmaceutical and medical communications companies, research institutes and in the field of scientific journalism. EMWA has an extensive professional development programme, and runs workshops and other educational and social events at bi-annual conferences, one in Spring and the other in Autumn, both in European locations. EMWA also publishes a journal, The Write Stuff, four times a year. In 2012, the journal changed its name to Medical Writing and began being published by Maney Publishing. Since the beginning of 2016, the journal is now once again self-published and printed by Hastings; feature articles are now open access.
The strategic objectives of EMWA are to build the profession of medical writing, to expand its membership-base, to streamline and enhance its organisational structure and processes and to provide a forum for its members in which they can share their expertise.