ISMPP EU 2023
Accessibility and participation as defaults
The explorations of AI and software tools link to another theme at this year’s ISMPP European Meeting: ensuring that scientific research can be accessed and understood. This included the importance of open access publishing, but also a broader discussion about who is involved in research and how it is presented.
A roundtable discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical research and publishing identified potential actions for researchers and publishers: 1) create a discussion guide to share during trial recruitment to explain to patients why their demographic data is collected and how it will be used; 2) consider including a diversity statement in publications, alongside ethics and data-sharing statements.
Almost 1 in 10 congress attendees (sample N=493) have accessibility requirements that are not being met by current posters and presentations. Critical actions to improve this situation include providing transcripts/captions for talks, reducing visual clutter on slides and in posters, and, where possible, providing both plain language and audio summaries.1
Non-English-speaking patient authors face additional barriers to participation in the publication process;2 solutions could include bilingual author agreements, structured meetings (rather than email review) to gain feedback on drafts, and translation of key passages where necessary.
1. Wells JL et al. Presented at 2023 European Meeting of ISMPP; London, UK. Poster #6; 2. Mitani K et al. Presented at 2023 European Meeting of ISMPP; London, UK. Poster #33.