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40 years: life goes on, so does Prescrire

 Editorial  The women and men who "make" and "are" Prescrire share strong values and work together to support a unique multidisciplinary movement for quality healthcare, launched 40 years ago.

"To work, in all independence, in favour of quality healthcare, first and foremost in the interest of patients". This excerpt from Article 1 of the Association Mieux Prescrire bylaws is printed at the top of the inside cover of each issue of Prescrire International and La Revue Prescrire, opposite the editorial. This very clear objective introduces the long list of contributors to Prescrire: the hundred or so reviewers who took the time to offer constructive criticism on the articles published in that particular issue, prior to their publication; and the hundred or so members of the Prescrire team, women and men drawing on their various professions and areas of expertise to produce our French- and English-language journals and Association Mieux Prescrire’s other publications and continuing education programmes.

These women and men who "make" Prescrire form a collective, a team, that signs its publications "©Prescrire". None of their names appears on any of the articles in Prescrire, in contrast to the usual practices related to authorship in the press and the world of scientific publishing. They derive satisfaction and find motivation elsewhere: from working as part of a team, with perseverance, rigour and determination, to assemble building blocks of robust information that help healthcare professionals offer informed choices "first and foremost in the interest of patients".

The approximately 26 000 women and men who subscribe to Prescrire, almost all of whom are healthcare professionals or future healthcare professionals, "are" also Prescrire. Without them, Prescrire would not exist. Because Association Mieux Prescrire is solely funded by subscribers. The team that "makes" Prescrire depends on subscribers alone, on their interest in expanding their knowledge with Prescrire. Our dependence on subscribers is a carefully considered choice that allows us to steer clear of any influences that are not in patients’ best interests.

The women and men who "make" and "are" Prescrire share strong values and work together to support a unique multidisciplinary movement for quality healthcare, launched 40 years ago. Prescrire’s founders have passed the baton. The subscribers to the first issue of La Revue Prescrire in 1981 are not, for the most part, those who subscribe to the current issue; they too have passed the baton. This process of renewal ensures the continued vitality of our movement.

Life goes on, so does Prescrire.

©Prescrire 1 April 2021

Source: "40 years" Prescrire International 2020; 29 (225): 87. Free

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"Who are we?”
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"Prescrire's History"
(November 2016)
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"A non-profit continuing
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(June 2019)
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