Letter Writing to Promote Philosophical Reflection About Medicine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/pom.2025.230Keywords:
Letter to the editor, Philosophy of medicine, Author rights and responsibilities, Publication ethicsAbstract
Letters to the editor (LTEs) are a versatile short-format forum with unique characteristics to allow for cross-pollination of different kinds of philosophical reflection about medicine. Philosophical LTEs have both benefits and possible drawbacks. We draw on a case study to warn against misuse through “CV inflation,” where low-quality ideas may favor a scholar’s publishing metrics more than scholarly debate. Factual inaccuracies in LTEs have implications for authors, publishing, and indexing, and we argue for prudence by editors and restraint by scholars, inviting them to focus on quality, rather than the quantity of LTEs published. When writing LTEs, rigor, readability, and relevance are needed.
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