A perspective from the 2026 ISMPP Academy meeting by Hashem Dbouk (AstraZeneca) and Wilson Joe (Lumanity), members of the ISMPP Publication Practices Committee, Publication Strategy workstream.
A publication plan can contain the right manuscripts, congresses, and timelines—and still fall short of being truly strategic. At the 2026 ISMPP Academy, Hashem Dbouk, PhD, CMPP™, and Wilson Joe, PhD, CMPP™, introduced a different way to think about planning: make the logic behind every publication visible. The question is not simply What should we publish? but What need does this publication address, why does it belong in the plan, and how does it connect to the broader strategy?
Start with the “why,” not the deliverable
The Academy session positioned insights as a starting point for moving beyond a publication plan that is primarily a list of tactics. An isolated comment or observation is not necessarily an insight. Instead, the speakers described insights as recurring patterns that reveal stakeholder needs, evidence gaps, uncertainties, or communication opportunities—and that have implications for what teams do next.
“A strategic publication plan without insights…has the risk of just being a list of tactics.”—Wilson Joe
Those insights can come from many places: interactions with healthcare professionals, publication steering committees, medical information inquiries, congress conversations, field medical feedback, patient perspectives, and analysis of the published evidence landscape. The important step is synthesis—looking across inputs to understand what they collectively suggest about an unmet communication or evidence need.
This shifts the planning conversation. Rather than asking only what data are available to publish, teams can consider what stakeholders need to understand, where uncertainty remains, and which needs are most important and feasible to address.
Turn understanding into strategic choices
Insights alone do not determine a publication strategy. Teams also need to consider the environment in which those insights sit.
In the Academy presentation, situational analysis provided that bridge. A publication-focused SWOT analysis, for example, can help teams consider internal strengths and limitations alongside external opportunities and risks. The purpose is not to create an exhaustive inventory. It is to develop a shared, evidence-based understanding that can inform choices about publication priorities and sequencing.
That distinction matters. A situational analysis becomes strategically useful when it helps teams identify potential actions and assess them against the needs and gaps already surfaced through insights. As new insights emerge and circumstances change, these choices may need to be revisited, making strategic publication planning an ongoing process rather than a one-time exercise.
“The important thing to think about when you’re doing a strategic publication plan is that it’s a living document, it’s not static.”—Hashem Dbouk
Make the connections traceable
Publication objectives provide the next critical connection. They translate strategic priorities, evidence-generation goals, stakeholder insights, and situational analysis into clear aims that can guide publication activities.
The Academy speakers emphasized two-way traceability. Looking upstream, publication objectives should connect back to the strategic and situational inputs that informed them. Looking downstream, planned publications should connect back to those objectives. The result is a straightforward test of the plan: Does every publication have a defined purpose? And does every objective have publication support?
Traceability can also expose gaps and redundancy. If an activity cannot be linked to an objective or underlying need, the team can examine why it is in the plan. Conversely, an important objective without supporting publication activity may reveal something that still needs attention.
Scale the approach—and keep it alive
Strategic planning does not necessarily require a large team or extensive budget. During the Q&A, the speakers described a “minimum viable” approach built around resources teams may already have: desk research, literature and landscape assessments, conversations with existing authors or steering committees, input from internal colleagues, and internally conducted situational analysis. The principle was pragmatic: use the resources available rather than build a plan the organization cannot execute.
Just as importantly, the work does not end when the plan is approved. Emerging evidence, stakeholder feedback, changes in clinical practice, and developments in the external landscape can all change priorities. Strategic publication planning is therefore an iterative process: new information feeds back into insights, objectives, and ultimately publication decisions.
That adaptability may be one of the clearest distinctions between a publication list and a publication strategy. A list records intended outputs. A strategy makes the rationale for those outputs visible—and gives teams a way to reconsider them as circumstances change.
Key takeaway
A more strategic publication plan does not have to be a larger or more complicated one. Its value comes from making the connections clear: from stakeholder and evidence needs, through situational understanding and publication objectives, to purposeful publication activities. By maintaining that traceability—and revisiting it as new information emerges—publication teams can keep the plan focused, explain why each activity belongs, and adapt when the evidence or environment changes.
The ISMPP Strategic Publication Planning Toolkit is a member-exclusive resource for ISMPP members. Join ISMPP to access the Toolkit and other member-exclusive content.
Acknowledgment: The ISMPP Insider Content Lab team would like to thank Hashem Dbouk and Wilson Joe who participated in the 2026 ISMPP Academy as presenters of the plenary session, An Introduction to the ISMPP Publications Practices Committee Strategic Publication Planning Toolkit. We would also like to thank the ISMPP volunteers who developed the Strategic Publication Planning Toolkit, a member-only resource available through ISMPP’s Learning Hub.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the speakers in their presentation at the 2026 ISMPP Academy meeting are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of ISMPP.
Disclosure: This article was developed by the ISMPP Insider Content Lab team using ChatGPT 5.2 (OpenAI) customized to meet the requirements for a Content Lab article. Inputs to the custom GPT were the ISMPP-supplied session transcript (Snapsight) and the onsite slide presentation by the faculty. Human editorial and process oversight was provided by members of the Content Lab team, Vidhi Vashisht, Jerolyn Monte, and Ross Ruriani, and Doreen Valentine (ISMPP).
©2026 International Society of Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP)
