The editorial and clinical teams at City of Hope are committed to developing content that upholds the highest journalistic standards while making cancer care, treatment and diagnostic information understandable and accessible for our current and future patients, caregivers and anyone searching for cancer-related content online. All content goes through a rigorous six-step process:
- Initial story assignment: Article topics are chosen based on clinical comprehensiveness and patient interest. Each assignment includes detailed information and direction for the writer, including an overview of the topic to be covered, sections to include and details of what not to include, based on an analysis of the competitive landscape, content opportunities and the need to cover the topic comprehensively from a clinical standpoint.
- Content development: Assignments are then given to one of our highly experienced health and medical writers, who source information from a limited number of pre-selected credible sources, including City of Hope clinical staff and websites and other resources offered by authoritative organizations like U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
- Copy edit: After the content is written, it’s assigned to a staff editor who ensures the information is clearly presented, resolves any inconsistencies, restructures the content based on readability and flow, and makes any necessary grammar or other changes.
- Fact check: After the initial edit, all copy is fact-checked against referenced sources.
- Voice, tone and style edit: Each article then goes through a final edit to ensure voice, tone, style and brand-language consistency.
- Specialized clinical review: Prior to being published on cancercenter.com, all new content is additionally reviewed by members of the City of Hope clinical leadership team with expertise that aligns with the content’s subject area.
Staying current and relevant
City of Hope performs a two-year medical re-review as a standard across all medical informational content. However, updates and re-reviews may be prompted off-cycle for a number of reasons, including new clinical guidelines, treatment developments, major drug approvals or content that’s flagged for possible inaccuracies by City of Hope Stakeholders or cancercenter.com site visitors.
