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Doctors Explain Launches “The MedClarity Journal” to Transform Medical Storytelling and Health Knowledge Across Africa

Doctors Explain Launches “The MedClarity Journal” to Transform Medical Storytelling and Health Knowledge Across Africa

  • November 15, 2025
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Nairobi, Kenya – In a major milestone for African medical publishing and digital health communication, Doctors Explain Digital Health Co. LTD has officially launched The MedClarity Journal, a bold new imprint that blends rigorous science with powerful storytelling to amplify African voices in healthcare.

Positioned at the intersection of medicine, public health, digital innovation, and creative writing, The MedClarity Journal is designed to serve as both a publishing house and a knowledge bridge—carrying insights from clinics, research labs, rural communities, and lived experiences into the hands of readers across the continent and beyond.

“We’ve spent years building digital health tools that connect patients to doctors,” said Dr. Levi Cheruo Cheptora, Founder and CEO of Doctors Explain and founding editor of The MedClarity Journal. “Now we’re building a publishing platform that connects stories to minds. We believe knowledge itself is a form of healthcare.”

Unlike many traditional medical journals that are accessible only to academics or locked behind paywalls, MedClarity aims to be accessible, human, and distinctly African—publishing both fiction and nonfiction that explore health, illness, care, justice, policy, and innovation through multiple lenses.


A New Kind of Medical & Health Imprint for Africa

The MedClarity Journal is not just another scholarly publication. It is envisioned as a multi-genre, multi-format imprint that treats health as both a scientific topic and a deeply human story.

What Makes MedClarity Different?

  1. Dual Focus: Fiction + Nonfiction
    The imprint publishes:
    • Evidence-based nonfiction: public health essays, narrative medicine, research-informed articles, policy explainer pieces, and digital health innovation stories.
    • Creative work: literary fiction, speculative fiction, short stories, and narrative essays that explore health, ethics, inequity, or healing from imaginative and cultural angles.
  2. Africa at the Center
    The MedClarity Journal is explicitly Africa-first in its perspective. Submissions are encouraged from across the continent and the diaspora, with a particular focus on:
    • Underrepresented communities
    • Rural health settings
    • Indigenous knowledge systems
    • Realities of low-resource environments
    • Culturally specific understandings of illness and care
  3. Bridging Digital Health & Storytelling
    As an imprint of Doctors Explain Digital Health Co. LTD, MedClarity lives inside a broader ecosystem that already includes:
    • Telemedicine platforms
    • Multilingual health education content
    • A Multi-Hospital Management Information System (MHMIS)
    • The Digital Doctors College for training healthcare entrepreneurs and professionals

The journal becomes a narrative and intellectual layer on top of this infrastructure, turning data, insight, and experience into stories and knowledge people can actually read, feel, and act on.

  1. Clear, Ethical Content Guidelines
    At a time when the internet and book marketplaces are flooded with low-quality, AI-generated, and misleading information, MedClarity draws a firm line on standards (detailed below), prioritizing authentic, human-crafted, well-researched content.

Inside the MedClarity Content Guidelines

From the start, Doctors Explain has emphasized that The MedClarity Journal will not be a dumping ground for generic self-help, recycled information, or AI spam. To protect readers, authors, and the integrity of the imprint, the journal has published a detailed set of Content Submission Guidelines.

These guidelines revolve around three core commitments:

  1. Originality – The work must be genuinely new, not a rehash of someone else’s book, Wikipedia content, or public domain material.
  2. Integrity – The work must be ethically produced, free from plagiarism, hate speech, and harmful misinformation.
  3. Quality – The work must be edited, coherent, and professionally presented, respecting both the reader and the subject matter.

1. No Public Domain or Copy-Paste Content

MedClarity explicitly rejects public domain compilations and books built out of old texts, speeches, or religious writings that the author did not create. The imprint is not interested in simple “repackaging” of what is already out there.

“The people we serve don’t need more noise,” Dr. Levi explained. “They need clarity. That’s why we’re called MedClarity.”

Everything accepted for publication must be author-created, with appropriate citation and permissions where other sources are referenced.

2. Zero Tolerance for Infringing or Unauthorized Material

Authors must guarantee that they own or have permission to use:

  • Text
  • Tables and charts
  • Clinical images or illustrations
  • Photographs
  • Data visualizations
  • Branding elements

MedClarity reserves the right to reject any work that infringes copyright, violates privacy (for example, publishing identifiable patient information without consent), or misuses institutional logos and trademarks.

3. No Hate Speech, Exploitation, or Dehumanization

Because The MedClarity Journal lives within the healthcare ecosystem, where trust and dignity are sacred, the imprint considers ethics non-negotiable.

The guidelines forbid:

  • Hate speech against any group
  • Content glorifying violence, torture, or abuse
  • Dehumanizing depictions of patients or marginalized communities
  • Sensationalist portrayals of mental illness, disability, or trauma

Difficult topics—such as gender-based violence, corruption, or epidemics—can certainly be written about, but they must be approached with care, context, and a clear ethical aim, not as cheap shock material.

4. Clear Boundaries on Explicit Sexual Content

MedClarity is not an erotica imprint. While it recognizes that intimacy, gender, and sexuality can be important topics in health and literature, the guidelines strictly prohibit:

  • Pornographic imagery
  • Sexual content involving minors
  • Stories glorifying rape or non-consensual acts
  • Graphic sexual detail that serves no narrative, educational, or ethical purpose

Mature themes may be allowed in memoirs, fiction, or research—particularly where issues like reproductive health, sexual rights, or assault are addressed—but these must be handled in a way that protects survivors and readers, and is aligned with the imprint’s values.

5. No Summary, “Shortcut,” or Piggyback Books

Unlike some self-publishing platforms that are inundated with quick “summary of X bestseller” books, The MedClarity Journal does not accept:

  • Unauthorized summaries of existing titles
  • Companion “workbooks” built around a famous book they don’t own rights to
  • Thinly veiled copies of other writers’ frameworks or systems

MedClarity seeks to add to the conversation, not ride on the coattails of others.

6. No Misleading or Deceptive Metadata

The imprint forbids:

  • Book titles designed to look like a known bestseller
  • Author names meant to confuse readers (e.g., using “Atul Gwande” to impersonate Atul Gawande)
  • Covers that closely imitate famous visual designs
  • Metadata stuffed with irrelevant but trendy keywords

In the medical and public health space, misleading branding can be dangerous, not just annoying. MedClarity treats this as a safety and ethics issue, not just a marketing problem.

7. Quality Standards: No First Drafts

MedClarity expects manuscripts to be:

  • Coherent and structured
  • Spell-checked and proofread
  • Free from obvious grammatical chaos
  • Formatted in a readable way (clear headings, paragraphs, references)
  • Supported by credible sources where claims are made

Rough drafts, stream-of-consciousness dumps, or minimally edited AI output are simply not considered.

8. No “Low-Content” Quick Products

The MedClarity Journal does not publish:

  • Blank notebooks
  • Planners
  • Simple lined journals
  • Coloring books
  • Sudoku or puzzle collections

The imprint is focused on text-driven content that carries ideas, stories, or research—not stationery.

9. No Commodity Content That Adds Little Value

MedClarity screens out manuscripts that merely reword what is freely available online, especially if they lack:

  • New analysis
  • Local context
  • Case studies
  • Original insight
  • Narrative framing

For a submission to be accepted, it must answer the question:
“What unique value does this bring to an African reader, healthcare worker, or patient?”

10. A Firm Stance on Mass-Produced & PLR Material

The imprint rejects:

  • Private Label Rights (PLR) books
  • “Book farm” content churned out in bulk
  • Pre-assembled generic self-help manuscripts sold to multiple authors

Authenticity is central to the brand. If the author didn’t sweat through the writing, MedClarity won’t publish it.

11. AI-Generated Content: Assisted vs. Replaced

Recognizing that AI tools are here to stay, MedClarity takes a balanced stance:

Allowed:

  • AI for brainstorming or outlines
  • Using tools like grammar checkers
  • AI-assisted research organization (with human verification)

Not allowed:

  • Fully AI-generated manuscripts
  • Lightly edited large language model output
  • “Auto-written” books without deeper human synthesis

Authors are also expected to disclose if AI materially contributed to the writing, especially in nonfiction.

“AI can assist thinking,” said Dr. Levi. “But it cannot replace lived experience, moral judgment, or the emotional labor of writing about real bodies and real suffering.”

12. Nonfiction Requires Real Expertise

For nonfiction, especially in:

  • Medicine and clinical practice
  • Public health and epidemiology
  • Mental health and psychology
  • Healthcare technology and digital innovation
  • Health policy and systems

MedClarity may request evidence of:

  • Credentials
  • Field experience
  • Research background
  • Previous publications

The goal is not gatekeeping for prestige, but protecting readers from dangerous misinformation, especially when it comes to clinical or therapeutic claims.

13. Oversaturated & Restricted Topics

Certain niches in global publishing are saturated with low-quality, copy-paste content, such as:

  • Generic “affirmations” books
  • NLP and dark psychology mini-manuals
  • Clickbait style “gaslighting” cures
  • Superficial crypto, trading, or “get rich quick” guides
  • Fad diet books (keto, detox, intermittent fasting, etc.)
  • Basic coding crash courses with no depth

MedClarity will generally reject these unless:

  • The author has clear, demonstrable expertise, and
  • The work offers a truly original, evidence-based contribution relevant to African contexts.

What MedClarity Is Actively Looking For

While the guidelines are strict about what the imprint doesn’t want, the team is equally clear about what excites them.

Preferred Nonfiction Categories

  • Public health narratives rooted in African countries or communities
  • Digital health innovation stories, case studies, and critiques
  • Medical humanities and narrative medicine
  • Policy explainers around health financing, insurance, and equity
  • Mental health in African contexts, including stigma, culture, and care
  • Climate change and health in Africa
  • Patient-authored or caregiver memoirs navigating illness, disability, or care systems
  • Analyses of gender, sexuality, poverty, or conflict as they intersect with health

Preferred Fiction & Literary Work

  • Short stories set in clinics, villages, urban hospitals, or future African health systems
  • Speculative fiction imagining AI, telemedicine, or genomics in African settings
  • Stories that humanize health workers, patients, families, or entire communities
  • Magic realist tales where traditional healing, spirituality, and science meet
  • Youth fiction that introduces health themes creatively without preaching

Hybrid and Experimental Forms

MedClarity is also open to:

  • Graphic narratives (illustrated health stories)
  • Poetry sequences exploring illness, grief, or resilience
  • Creative nonfiction that blends research and storytelling
  • Dialogues, testimonials, and multivoice pieces

How to Get Published with The MedClarity Journal

For authors wondering how to move from idea to accepted manuscript, the imprint has broken the process into a clear pathway:

Step 1: Align Your Idea

Authors are encouraged to start by asking:

  1. Does this idea add clarity to a health-related issue?
  2. Is there a strong African or Global South perspective?
  3. Does the work fit within MedClarity’s ethical, cultural, and quality standards?

If yes, the project is likely aligned with the imprint’s mission.

Step 2: Review the Content Guidelines

Before writing or submitting, authors should carefully read the guidelines (as summarized above) to avoid:

  • Disallowed categories
  • Oversaturated topics
  • Pitfalls like heavy reliance on AI or unverified medical claims

The guidelines function as both a safety filter and a craft checklist.

Step 3: Develop and Polish the Manuscript

MedClarity expects:

  • Clear structure: chapters, sections, or story arcs
  • Consistent tone and style
  • Logical flow from beginning to end
  • Clean formatting (12-point font, double-spaced, standard file types)
  • Complete references and citations in nonfiction

Many authors draft, step away, and then revise with a fresh eye—or share work with peers for feedback before submission.

Step 4: Prepare a Proposal (for Longer Works)

For full-length books and major projects, authors may be asked to submit a proposal including:

  • Working title and subtitle
  • 1–2 page synopsis
  • Target audience (for example: clinicians, students, general readers, policymakers)
  • Approximate word count
  • Author bio and relevant background
  • 1–3 sample chapters or complete short pieces

This helps the editorial team assess fit before committing to full review.

Step 5: Submit via Email or Portal

Submissions for The MedClarity Journal are received via:

  • A dedicated email address (e.g., editor@doctorsexplain.net)
  • Or a web submission portal linked from the Doctors Explain website

Authors are encouraged to:

  • Put “[MedClarity Submission]” in the subject line
  • Indicate the genre (Nonfiction / Fiction / Hybrid)
  • Attach manuscripts in accepted formats (usually .docx or .pdf for review)

Step 6: Editorial Review

Once received, submissions go through:

  1. Initial Screening
    • Checks for compliance with guidelines
    • Confirms originality and basic quality
  2. Content & Fit Review
    • Assesses alignment with mission and themes
    • For nonfiction, may involve informal peer review by subject-matter experts
  3. Feedback & Decision
    • Acceptance
    • Conditional acceptance with revisions
    • Or a respectful decline with brief explanation where possible

The imprint emphasizes constructive feedback, especially for emerging writers whose work shows potential but needs refinement.

Step 7: Editing & Production

For accepted works, the MedClarity team offers:

  • Developmental editing (structure, argument, story arc)
  • Line editing (clarity, tone, phrasing)
  • Copyediting (grammar, spelling, consistency)
  • Proofreading before publication

Authors remain involved in decisions around:

  • Title and subtitle
  • Cover concepts
  • Back cover copy and marketing descriptions
  • Author bio and photo

Step 8: Publication & Distribution

Once finalized, works may be:

  • Published as digital books, print-on-demand titles, or journal issues
  • Distributed via Doctors Explain’s digital platforms, partner bookstores, and libraries
  • Integrated into health education campaigns, webinars, or training programs run by Doctors Explain and its partners

Services The MedClarity Journal Offers to Authors

The Imprint is designed as more than just a gatekeeper; it is a support system for authors who care deeply about health and storytelling.

1. Publishing

MedClarity provides end-to-end publishing services:

  • ISBN assignment
  • Professional interior layout
  • Digital and print file preparation
  • Quality control checks

Authors get to see their work transformed into professionally designed books or issues, not just uploaded documents.

2. Editing

Experienced editors familiar with:

  • Medical language
  • African public health contexts
  • Literary craft

work with authors to elevate both the precision of content and the power of narrative.

3. Design

The imprint offers:

  • Clean, accessible interior layouts
  • Culturally resonant, professional cover designs
  • Thoughtful use of illustrations, infographics, or diagrams where appropriate

Design is treated as part of the message: a readable book is a more impactful book.

4. Distribution

Through Doctors Explain’s ecosystem and partners, MedClarity titles can reach:

  • Healthcare professionals
  • Training institutions
  • NGOs and community organizations
  • Students and youth audiences
  • Online readers across Africa and globally

The imprint aims to secure partnerships with digital platforms, libraries, and universities to embed its content into real-world learning environments.

5. Education & Capacity Building

MedClarity authors gain access to:

  • Webinars on writing for health audiences
  • Workshops on narrative medicine and public engagement
  • Training on how to translate research into readable prose
  • Insights from the Digital Doctors College on entrepreneurship and digital health

As Dr. Levi puts it:

“We don’t just publish books; we grow voices.”

6. Promotion & Visibility

While MedClarity is not a marketing agency, the imprint supports authors by:

  • Featuring them on the Doctors Explain website and social channels
  • Including selected works in newsletters and partner communications
  • Coordinating online launch events, interviews, or panel discussions
  • Pitching standout titles to key stakeholders in policy, health systems, and academia

The goal is to ensure that authors are not invisible in the crowded publishing landscape.


Benefits for Potential Authors

Publishing with The MedClarity Journal offers multiple advantages, especially for African authors who have historically found the global publishing world difficult to access.

1. A Platform That Truly Understands Health

MedClarity is run by people who:

  • Understand clinical practice
  • Have worked with health ministries and NGOs
  • Build digital tools used in real hospitals and clinics
  • Navigate the ethics of health communication daily

Authors don’t have to explain why a detail matters; the editorial team already gets it.

2. Cultural and Contextual Respect

Rather than forcing authors to flatten their experiences into Western norms, MedClarity welcomes:

  • Local languages and phrases (with translations)
  • Real African settings, names, and histories
  • Honest depictions of structural challenges and resilience

The imprint understands that a story about a rural Kenyan clinic or a Lagos mental health initiative doesn’t need to be “translated” into a foreign worldview to be valid.

3. Credibility and Professional Growth

Being published by a health-focused imprint like MedClarity can:

  • Strengthen an author’s portfolio for academic or professional advancement
  • Provide material they can use in talks, trainings, or advocacy work
  • Signal to partners and funders that their ideas are seriously developed

4. Support for Emerging Voices

The imprint proactively encourages:

  • Young writers
  • Community health workers with stories to tell
  • Patients and caregivers with lived experience
  • Practitioners from underserved regions

Especially where the idea is powerful but the writing needs development, MedClarity aims to guide rather than dismiss.

5. Meaningful Social Impact

Unlike some commercial publishers whose priority is volume and sales, MedClarity’s founding purpose is impact.

A MedClarity title might:

  • Shape community conversations on mental health
  • Inform a grassroots maternal health program
  • Be used as a training text in a nursing or medical school
  • Inspire a young reader to pursue public health or medicine

For many authors, the ability to change lives and systems matters more than bestseller status alone.


Potential Impact on Medical & Healthcare Industries in Africa

If successful, The MedClarity Journal could become a landmark initiative in African healthcare and knowledge ecosystems.

1. Strengthening Health Literacy

By publishing highly readable, locally grounded works that explain:

  • Diseases
  • Prevention strategies
  • Health systems
  • Rights and responsibilities

MedClarity can deepen public health literacy among both professionals and lay readers.

2. Bridging Research and Real Life

African researchers often struggle to communicate findings beyond academic journals. MedClarity can:

  • Translate complex research into accessible narratives
  • Showcase African data and innovation stories
  • Help policymakers and funders see the human side of evidence

This is especially critical for issues like:

  • Maternal mortality
  • HIV and reproductive health
  • Non-communicable diseases
  • Mental health
  • Climate-related health shocks

3. Centering African Voices in Global Conversations

Too often, African experiences are written about by others. MedClarity actively reverses this by:

  • Giving African authors ownership of their stories
  • Elevating region-specific perspectives on global issues
  • Challenging stereotypes and deficit narratives

As titles accumulate, the imprint could become a go-to source for authentic African thinking on health and humanity.

4. Inspiring Innovation Through Story

By blending digital health case studies with creative fiction, MedClarity can inspire:

  • Young healthtech entrepreneurs
  • Designers and engineers
  • Policymakers imagining future systems

Speculative fiction about AI triage tools in slums, or village-level drone delivery of medicines, can spark fresh ideas and conversations.

5. Emotional Support and Community Healing

Stories of grief, recovery, burnout, resilience, and solidarity can help:

  • Clinicians process their own experiences
  • Patients feel seen and less alone
  • Families, caregivers, and communities find language for what they’ve endured

Narrative, in this sense, becomes a form of mental health support—a kind of mirror in which people can recognize themselves and feel less isolated.

6. Building a New Generation of Health Communicators

Through workshops and mentorship, MedClarity could help create:

  • Doctor-writers
  • Nurse-poets
  • Public health storytellers
  • Policy analysts who can explain complex ideas simply

This talent pool will be invaluable for:

  • Future pandemics
  • National health campaigns
  • Advocacy for universal health coverage
  • Digital health rollouts

Looking Ahead: The Future of MedClarity

Over time, Doctors Explain envisions The MedClarity Journal evolving into:

  • A multilingual platform offering content in English, Kiswahili, and other African languages
  • A hub connecting authors to audio, radio, and video adaptations of their work
  • A partner to universities and medical schools integrating narrative medicine into curricula
  • A collaborator with ministries and NGOs seeking powerful storytelling for health programs

“Africa’s health future won’t just be built in laboratories or ministries,” Dr. Levi reflected.
“It will also be built in stories—told by us, about us, for us. MedClarity is one way of making sure those stories are heard.”


Conclusion

With the launch of The MedClarity Journal, Doctors Explain is extending its mission of democratizing healthcare into the realm of democratizing knowledge and imagination. By pairing strict content guidelines with nurturing support for authors, the imprint positions itself as a new kind of medical and literary institution—one that takes both science and storytelling seriously.

For potential authors across Africa and the diaspora, MedClarity offers something rare: a place where their health-related stories, research, and creative visions can be professionally published, ethically handled, and meaningfully shared.

For the broader medical and healthcare industries, especially in Africa, the imprint may well become a catalyst—translating complex realities into accessible narratives, empowering communities, and helping shape a future where voices from the continent define their own health narratives.

And for readers, students, practitioners, and patients, The MedClarity Journal promises a library of works that do what all great health communication must do:
inform the mind, move the heart, and ultimately, help heal the world.

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