Contributors’ Guidelines

What do we publish on the EAPC blog? 


The strong focus on European perspectives of palliative care, balanced with worldwide contributions, enables readers to explore, share and learn from different cultures and different settings. We welcome contributions which provide insight into palliative care education, research and service developments, for example: 

  • General opinion pieces on topical issues in palliative care, for example, advocacy, bereavement care, clinical practice, education and training, models of care, policy, public education, research, A.I. (artificial intelligence), spiritual care and volunteering. 
  • Personal perspectives from people receiving palliative care, their families, and professionals. 
  • EAPC activities (publications such as white papers; posts related to selected articles published in the official research journals of EAPC: Palliative Medicine and Journal of Palliative Medicine; EAPC Congresses ). 
  • Research dissemination. 
  • Global news – new developments in palliative care advocacy, policy, education, and service delivery. 

Top Tips for writing an EAPC blog

Hear from Editorial Team member Prof Mark Taubert about how to write a successful EAPC blog:

Submission guidelines for the EAPC blog: 

Where possible, please contact the blog editor before submitting your blog and provide a short summary of what you would like to write about. 

Here are the requirements when writing an EAPC blog: 

  • Keep the blog short, simple, and focused and 500 words maximum.  
  • Engage your readers. Make your text lively and interesting.
  • The blog needs to be topical. 
  • Avoid too much jargon or specialised language - your post should be easily understood by everyone regardless of discipline and language ability.  
  • If your blog links to a published journal article, it needs to be a ‘standalone’ and engaging piece. It should not just be an extract from the longer article.  
  • Submit your text in English. If English is not your first language, we can help you with editorial and language support.  
  • Make sure that the language used is both fair and respectful.  
  • Respect individuals and patient confidentiality – please use initials for patients’ names. 
  • Consult your manager or team members if submitting a post about some aspect of your service; if necessary, obtain your manager’s approval before submitting the blog. 
  • Write out abbreviations in full the first time you use them in the blog, for example: WHA (World Health Assembly). 

When writing an EAPC blog, please include: 

  • A short, thought provoking and engaging title. 
  • A brief introduction (please see published EAPC blogs for examples). 
  • A few interesting links at the end of your blog for the ‘links and resources’ section. 
  • A few sentences about you at the end of the blog, and include your social media links (such as your Twitter handle) and ORCID number if you have these. 
  • Essential references only and please keep references to a maximum of four.  

Things to think about – when writing for the blog you could: 

  • Include a personal perspective in your post. For example: a short story about a person receiving palliative care, their family or someone who inspired your work. What made you write about this topic at this time? Why did you do this research study? Why is this subject important to you?  
  • Include an interesting quote from someone, perhaps a patient or their relative, that underlines how your work has impacted on practice and helps to personalise your text. 
  • Make your post interactive by including links to other media, for example a relevant film clip on YouTube, links to other resources and websites. 

Once the Editorial team has accepted the blog for publication, please send the editor: 

  • A JPEG image to accompany your blog, such as an illustration, a photograph, a drawing etc, and confirm in writing that you have permission to use the image. If you do not have an image to use, choose a freely available image from websites such as Centre for Aging Better, Pixabay and Unsplash. Provide a caption for the editor, including where the image was sourced from and/or a photographer credit. Please make sure that image you choose is a diverse one. 
  • If the photo includes patients and families, please send written confirmation that they have given permission to use this image on the EAPC blog. Provide a caption to the photo for the editor. 
  • Format any tables and provide jpgs of any diagrams etc which are included. 
  • Social media handles of people and organisations who can help promote the blog when it is published. 

EAPC editorial control 

The EAPC encourages personal views and opinions on topical issues in palliative care, but as a guiding principle we insist that content conforms to the mission and ethical standards upheld by the EAPC.  It is important that the blog is inclusive, using language that is fair and respectful and that ensuring that readers feel welcome. We therefore reserve the right to refuse any contribution that do not comply with these principles. In addition, posts should not focus negatively on identifiable individuals, teams or specific services. 

We reserve the right to modify posts for length and readability. Acceptance by the Editorial Team is necessary in all cases, and no posts will be automatically published. 

The Editorial team will review the submitted blog and the blog will either be: 

  • Approved for publication, 
  • Approved for publication subject to amendment,
  • Declined if it is not suitable for publication for the EAPC blog. 

Promotion of events 
We do not publish posts that overtly promote an upcoming conference or course, unless there is a specific theme that is developed in the post. Please contact the blog editor if you wish to discuss this.  

EAPC members are encouraged to contact the Communications Officer if they would like to promote events via the EAPC online calendar of events.

Original content 

Please note that the EAPC accepts a blog for publication on the understanding that it has not been published before, either online or in print, and it is not due for publication elsewhere. 

All blogs are the opinion of the author and do not represent the official EAPC position. 

How can I access the EAPC blog?

How to contact us:

To contribute to the EAPC blog, please contact the editor here.

Revised May 2023.