It comes as a surprise to no one that the best medical researchers are not always the best conveyors of information. Here is an interesting formal analysis of the language complexity (i.e., readability) of radiation oncology publications over time. It shows, despite a logarithmic increase in the number of publications, manuscripts on average contain increasing amounts of information with decreasing efficiency. In fact, the word count increased so dramatically over the 20-year period analyzed that a trend emerged equating to one word added every 4.6 days. In short (you’re welcome), medical literature intended to educate may be well-served getting back to the basics. And the QuadShot team needs a raise. | Mumaw & Quinn, Pract Radiat Oncol 2024
