A dictionary of epidemiology — The evolution towards the 6th edition

摘要

One of the key drivers in the advancement of scientific research iscommunication. It may seem to be taken for granted, but it is throughcommunication that scientific information is shared. Whether it isthrough publication in peer-reviewed journals, presentations in scientificmeetings, or lectures in the classroom, communication plays avital part in howwe obtain information to gain knowledge and perhapsform the basis to question existing paradigms. Needless to say, clarityand consistency are important attributes to good communication toensure that scientific information is clearly understood and transmittedas accurately as possible. In medicine, medical dictionaries are a usefulresource for the clinicians, health researchers and the general public toprovide some useful descriptions and explanations of unfamiliar aswell as common terms or phrases encountered in the clinics or read inthemedical literature. Even scientific journals require the use of specificmedical dictionaries to formthe basis for the correct usage or spelling ofwords in the manuscripts submitted to them. But when the latestedition of a dictionary appears on bookshelves, one could not help butwonder whether the changes in the latest edition are substantiveenough to warrant their purchase. Such a concern would certainly havearisen in many epidemiologists if they came across the 6th and latestedition of “A Dictionary of Epidemiology” [1]. It is, therefore, appropriateand timely to review this book to give the scientific community someideas as to what to expect from this edition of the dictionary. Somenotes about its ‘early origins’ should provide some context in which tounderstand the latest iteration of the dictionary.