Guidelines

If you see an entry in the Munk's Roll index without an obituary attached, and think you might be able write an entry, please contact us to discuss. We may already have an author in place, but we are always grateful for offers of help.

Below are details of what we look for in a Munk's Roll obituary.

What should be included in the memoirs

Opening lines should command the attention of the reader, and the best obituaries start with a summary or a condensed version of the achievements of the subject, e.g. ‘Bill Harvey Jnr served with distinction as a consultant physician at Barts and as clinical senior lecturer at UCL...’

Ideally, the rest of the memoir will be an interesting, accurate and honest summary of the highlights of the subject’s career and of their character. A dry listing of the subject’s achievements, CV-style, should be avoided, but please incorporate into the piece where appropriate:

• medical educational details of the subject
• family details (for future genealogists)
• research contributions and major publications (lengthy booklists are to be avoided).

We do encourage writers to include anecdotes and personal recollections as these can be an effective means of capturing the ‘spirit’ of the subject.

Entries should be unique to Lives of the fellows – we cannot accept a previously published biography. You may adapt a piece if you have had it published elsewhere, but please ask for guidance.

Editorial process

The Assistant Editor will verify all factual statements contained in the obituaries, including dates of qualifications and appointments, names, places and publication titles.

The Harveian Librarian and Assistant Editor reserve the right to edit submitted manuscripts, and to amend factual errors or contended statements online or in future reprints.

Resources available to writers

Copies of biographical materials contained in the subject’s ‘Fellow’s file’ can be supplied on request, but must remain confidential and are only to be used for the purpose of creating a Lives of the fellows entry.

Length

Lives of the fellows memoirs are usually between a few hundred and a thousand words (maximum) in length.

Deadline

We do not have set deadlines at present, but would encourage authors to update us on their progress. If you no longer feel able to complete an entry, please let us know and we will approach a new author.

Preferred format for entries

Please submit as a Word document by e-mail or on CD. Type-written memoirs are also acceptable.

We regret that hand-written scripts cannot be accepted.