What our author team learned from tackling changes that had been waiting a long time

By Kevin Patton, Frank Bell, Terry Thompson, and Peggie Williamson

A textbook revision is often described as an “update.” That word seems much too weak for what sometimes happens behind the scenes.

Elsevier released the 12th edition of Anatomy & Physiology on September 15, 2026, authored by the four of us. The new edition is 40 pages shorter than the previous one—even though we added an entirely new chapter on the human microbiome. We also reorganized the reproduction chapters using a female-first sequence, reworked difficult explanations and illustrations, strengthened our approach to terminology, and expanded our representation of human variation.

That may sound like a sudden burst of new ideas. It wasn’t.

Many of these changes had been discussed for years, sometimes decades, among scientists and A&P faculty. The pressure had been building. Our opportunity was to find responsible, workable ways to release some of that pressure.

Our mission-and-values statement, included in the Preface, gave us a clear standard for evaluating the possibilities: “Our mission is to help all students learn and apply the story of the human body.” Our values include clear and simple language, accuracy, storytelling, learning science, consistency, multisensory learning, true competency, broad instructional support, diverse representation, sensitivity to the rich variety of personal identities and experiences, and fluency in the language of science.

That statement was not Preface decoration. It became a revision tool. Would a change improve accuracy and coherence, build competency, and acknowledge the people who make up the human story? When time or space forced choices, those questions helped.

More minds—and hands

One major factor was the addition of three coauthors: Frank Bell, Terry Thompson, and Peggie Williamson. They brought fresh perspectives, complementary expertise, and more capacity within a revision schedule with firm limits.

The Patton Team of authors, editors, and designers met virtually almost every week. We researched, debated, revised, and sometimes debated again. The team approach did more than divide the workload. It expanded the work that was possible. No single author could have completed all these changes in one revision cycle.

The new Human Microbiome chapter is a good example. For decades, related coverage had been scattered among the skin, gut, respiratory tract, and elsewhere. As the science matured, that no longer seemed sufficient. The broader question for the author team was: When does a recurring thread need a home of its own—and can that home preserve freedom to navigate as needed?

Terry led the work of gathering that material, researching current thinking, and shaping a coherent draft chapter. All the author-team members and outside instructors who were already experimenting with how to effectively incorporate this topic into their own teaching provided detailed editing feedback—one concrete example of how shared authorship expanded what the team could accomplish. We retained connections throughout the book, but the chapter gives students a place to assemble the larger story. Its placement at the end lets instructors assign it wherever it fits.

Revising the story, not merely the sentences

The traditional male-first organization of reproductive-system coverage in our previous editions—and in any typical A&P textbook—had reasonable pedagogical arguments behind it, but it also reflected a deeply rooted habit. Simply reversing two chapters would have preserved the same male-versus-female framework.

Instead, we reorganized around structure first, then function. Chapter 45, Genital Systems, introduces typical female and male anatomy—in that order. Chapter 46, Reproduction, develops their physiology—likewise discussed from the female perspective first, then male.

That change opened the door to others. We redrew our traditional sketch of the ovarian cycle so egg-producing follicles no longer appear to move through the ovary as if on a conveyor belt. Detailed clitoral anatomy, already illustrated, was also clarified in the text narrative of the new edition. We added explicit coverage of perimenopause and postmenopause to better explain contemporary research and public awareness. And we revised the terms, illustrations, cross-references, questions, and online resources affected by the new organization. Change one load-bearing part of a textbook, and you quickly discover how much of the building rests on it.

Human variation belongs in the story

Variation in body structure and function is not an exception to the biological story. It is part of the story. We revised illustrations to show a fuller spectrum of human bodies, expanded discussions of individual variation, and refined language intended to be accurate and respectful of our readers’ identities and experiences.

Calling this diversity, equity, and inclusion work is fair but distracts from the educational purpose. Really, we just kept returning to questions rooted in our discipline: Is it scientifically accurate? Does it prepare future clinicians for the bodies they will encounter? Does it help all students learn without doing unnecessary harm? That framing keeps the work anchored in evidence and pedagogy, even when potential labels become political targets.

Adding while subtracting

How did we add a chapter while shortening the book by 40 pages? We tightened explanations and layouts, condensed chapter summaries, moved material that was not essential to an introductory story into ancillary resources, and moved our comprehensive glossary online. Cutting length was not housekeeping performed after the “real” revision. It was part of the intellectual work.

Frank helped us standardize pronunciations and word parts, recognized common alternative pronunciations, and continued shifting toward internationally recommended descriptive anatomical terms while retaining some familiar eponyms (terms named for people) as useful alternatives that may be encountered in clinical situations. This was fluency in the language of science made concrete.

Other changes reached across the book. For example, Peggie, a physical therapist, helped us clarify and expand our story about fascia—the body- wide web of fibers that connects our body structures. We also updated clinical and research applications, added 3D anatomy videos, created all-new Career Choices profiles, clearer visual orientation cues, and revised more questions to help readers move beyond simple recall. Not every innovation needs to announce itself with trumpets. Sometimes innovation is a hundred smaller, quieter decisions that make our instructional story more accurate, coherent, and humane.

For authors in any discipline, promising revision ideas may already be waiting in reader feedback, conversations at discipline conferences, and notes carried from one edition to the next. Perhaps there are pressures building. A fresh team, shared purpose, and room for debate can finally make them possible.

Our approach is not the only reasonable way to tell a contemporary A&P story. But it is the clearest story our team could build from the evidence, experience, and perspectives we had. And perhaps that is the larger lesson: a mature textbook can still evolve in significant ways.

More details about the changes, and the thinking behind them, are available at the Patton Anatomy & Physiology blog.

———————–

Kevin Patton, Frank Bell, Terry Thompson, and Peggie Williamson, are long- time friends and colleagues who are active in both TAA and the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS). All four are alums and/or faculty in the Master of Science in Human Anatomy & Physiology Instruction program at Northeast College of Health Sciences. Their textbook Anatomy & Physiology is a 2016 recipient of TAA’s Texty Award.

Note to the editor: OpenAI’s ChatGPT was used as a drafting and editorial aid to help organize, condense, and refine this article. The authors supplied its subject-matter content and professional judgments, verified its accuracy, revised and approved the text, and accept full responsibility for the final version.