The European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) conducted its 4th survey on salary and compensation of medical writers and communicators in 2021. Results of the survey were published in the December 2022 issue of the EMWA journal. In this article, aspiring medical writer Mojtaba (Moj) Yegani and medical writing mentor Sarah Nelson reflect on what the survey tells us about medical writing careers across Europe.
Location isn’t everything
Four hundred EMWA members participated in this survey. Respondents are, for the most part, either an employee of a company or a freelancer, and are located all over Europe. While it may be easier to find medical writing work in certain countries than in others, location does not seem to be a barrier to having a successful writing career in Europe today. Surprisingly, office-based employees in the survey reported lower median income compared with those who work a mix of home- and office-based days.
Not all medical writers have a PhD degree
Around three quarters of employed medical writers have an advanced degree (BBS, MD, PhD, PharmD, or equivalent), providing evidence that while a PhD is often requested in job advertisements, it is not an essential requirement to enter the medical writing profession. As is widely known, there is a lack of industry-wide standards in medical writing. Participants in the survey reflect this, reporting an array of educational backgrounds and professional training /certification programs provided by various organizations.
Quality of experience, not the duration of experience, influences income levels
As expected, seniority and years of experience in writing (e.g., Junior, Associate, Senior, and Principal) remain directly correlated with the salary and compensation received by medical writers. In addition, having other responsibilities such as project management, team management or mentoring correlates with higher salaries and benefits.
Interestingly, the number of years of writing experience is not linked as closely with salary; the median incomes of employed survey participants are similar whether the writer has 2 or 10 years of experience. Median income only increases when medical writers have more than 10 years of experience. Writers who are just embarking on a freelance career might bear this in mind when setting their hourly rates, using the quality of their training as a guide rather than the number of years they have been in business.
It is interesting to note that mentoring is a growing trend in the medical writing field; almost half of employed survey respondents provide mentoring, with 20% of freelancers also providing this service.
English as a first language helps
Another interesting finding is that English is not the first language of 34% of respondents who are employed medical writers. Clearly, it’s not necessary to be a native English speaker to become a successful medical writer, although an excellent grasp of written English is essential.
A higher proportion of freelancers are native English speakers compared to employed medical writers. This likely indicates that having English as the first language can provide a stronger basis to work as a freelancer. We may hypothesise that freelance medical writers may not have access to the same support systems as those usually available to employees in medical communications agencies.
Causes of dissatisfaction: too much or too little work
Medical writers generally report high levels of job satisfaction, and the EMWA survey certainly reflected this. Among the 15% who reported being Unsatisfied or Very Unsatisfied, heavy workload, low salary, and feeling undervalued are the main contributing reasons. Indeed, over one third of employed survey respondents reported that they work more than 40 hours/week, and this is not necessarily reflected by higher income. These findings indicate an imbalance for some employed writers that urgently needs addressing. Among freelance medical writers, an inconsistent flow of business is the main reason for job dissatisfaction.
Survey limitations
Authors of the paper declared the survey limitations (e.g. bias owing to geographical distribution, economic status of participants, and unknown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic). While the findings may not be completely applicable to all medical writing career trajectories, it certainly provides an interesting insight into the variety of medical writing careers that exist throughout Europe.
Source: Results of the 2021 EMWA salary and compensation survey
