Few bulletins have a staff member who is specifically responsible for the final quality control of articles because of the extra cost involved. However, even small bulletins need to carry out a final step to carefully verify the accuracy of the article. Preferably someone who has not seen the article recently should do this.

These are the steps in a final quality check of an article:

• check that each time a reference is cited, the information in the article corresponds to the information in the reference (figures, dates, doses, quotations, claims, etc.);

• check that the content of tables, figures and graphs corresponds to what is stated in the text;

• make sure that editing of complicated sentences has not changed their meaning or introduced errors;

• check the article’s coherence and how well it hangs together as a whole;

• make a final check of the conclusion - check that it still reflects the content of the text.

This final stage is crucial. If you omit it, the quality of articles is likely to suffer and it will be easier for critics to find flaws in the bulletin.