A Scoping Review of Peer Support Writing Groups in Academic Medicine as a Valuable Tool for Physician-Scientists in the Publish or Perish Era

In designing and implementing a peer support writing group for junior researchers at our home institution, we saw an opportunity to advance the understanding of this intervention as a valuable tool for future physician-scientists. We, therefore, performed a scoping literature review of the available literature on peer support writing groups in clinical disciplines to learn what has been described about this topic. We paid specific attention to the characteristics, implementation, and impact of these groups on the academic development of medical/healthcare scientists. We performed a scoping literature review following the conceptual framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. We included studies describing the characteristics, implementation, and impact/effects of peer support writing groups in clinical disciplines. All the information extracted was summarized descriptively to chart the available literature on peer support writing groups in clinical disciplines. We identified a total of 369 articles, of which six were finally included. The absolute number of papers published increased considerably after the participation in the peer support writing groups. The subjective comments of the participating individuals highlighted the positive effects of these groups on the academic productivity of attendees. Available information shows a significant increase in the absolute number of publications and a positive perception between individuals participating in peer support writing groups. Stakeholders should implement this strategy in their home academic institutions.