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Scientific Writing: Getting Started

Scientific Writing: Getting Started. Arash Etemadi, MD PhD Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences aetemadi@tums.ac.ir. contributes knowledge ensures scientific rigor allows feedback (improves work) Promotes career

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Scientific Writing: Getting Started

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  1. Scientific Writing: Getting Started Arash Etemadi, MD PhD Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences aetemadi@tums.ac.ir

  2. contributes knowledge ensures scientific rigor allows feedback (improves work) Promotes career document productivity document impact on field/reputation Advertises your institute for future trainees improves chances of funding fulfills an obligation (public monies) Why Publish?

  3. Evaluating a CV- Paper Emphasis • number of papers • rate of publication • quality of journals • length of papers • position in list of authors • focus

  4. Publish or Perish!

  5. TUMS workshops on scientific writing • Level 1: Basics • Level 2: Focus on international publications • Level 3: Practice in writing

  6. An overview

  7. The traditional IMRaD • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion

  8. Introduction: Why did you start? • Methods: What did you do? • Results: What did you find? • Discussion: What does it all mean?

  9. Write like my friend who sits with me in the canteen and tells me this story. “When I was an intern in obstetrics I saw several cats in the department. Everyone called them fat cats, but I thought the cats were not fat. So I weighed the cats, and I found that the cats were not fat. Visual impressions can be wrong, you know.”

  10. The best paper written so far Introduction (why did you do what you did?) When I was an intern in obstetrics I saw several cats in the department. Everyone called them fat cats. I thought the cats were not fat. Method (what did you do?) I weighed the cats. Results (what did you find?) I found that the cats were not fat. Discussion (What does it mean?) Visual impressions can be wrong.

  11. IntroductionThe prevalence of obesity in feline creatures remains as yet an unanswered query.[1-4] There are innumerable reports in medical literature which have addressed this issue,[4-6] albeit with contrasting methodology.[7] In our experience, reports of feline obesity in the Asian literature are conspicuous by their absence. The presence of an appropriate number of felines in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, prompted the authors to estimate the magnitude of the problem in Asian cats. An ongoing prevailing notion was the untested belief that there was a high prevalence of obesity in cats in Asia. Informed consent...

  12. A full paper consists of: • Title • Authors and Affiliation • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • Acknowledgments (optional) • References

  13. How to write a paper • Most papers are not that exceptional • Good writing makes significant difference • Better to say little clearly, than saying too much unclearly

  14. Types of Medical articles • Editorial • Original Article • Review Article • Short Communication (short papers) • Case Reports • Letter to Editor • Personal Views

  15. Short communication • Increasingly common • Concise introduction • Present data and discuss it shortly • Only a few tables or figures • Number of words limitations

  16. Is your paper a paper, a brief or a research letter? • Easier to get letters & briefs accepted (space). They are indexed! • Decide whether you should submit it as a brief or letter

  17. Case Reports • Medical history of a single patient in a story form. • Lots of information given which may not be seen in a trial or a survey. • Often written and published fast compared to studies • e.g. Thalidomide

  18. Secondary Studies

  19. Start Here!

  20. Design of the study • Involve a methodologist • Study type • Sample size • Interventions • Outcomes • Ethics

  21. RCT registration • http://rctregistry.tums.ac.ir (Persian and English) • http://www.clinicaltrials.gov • http://www.anzctr.org.au • http://isrctn.org • http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp • http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr

  22. Politics first!

  23. Authorship • Decide on authors, and their order, as early as possible • Preferably before starting the project • Authors should only include those who made substantive intellectual contribution to the project reported, and can defend the data and conclusions publicly.

  24. Target your paper at a particular journal • Familiarise yourself thoroughly with potential journals • what sort of papers do they publish? (original articles, briefs, reviews, commentaries, iconoclastic pieces?) • What is the “culture” of the journal? • National or international focus? • Write for that journal

  25. Author Submission Rejection Revise! Revised Proof Editor (Associate editor) Manuscript Report Style Proof Reviewer Technical editor Printer Time Publication The editorial process

  26. Rejection rate: 15% (pay journals) to 60% (specialist journals) to 90% (NEJM, The Lancet) • How long does it take? (Choice of journal) • BMJ: 70 days • JAMA: 117 days • Iranian journals?

  27. RULES OF THUMBS • bad research is almost always rejected • sensational research usually accepted - even if badly written • BUT most papers are neither: in gray zone

  28. Questions journals ask • Is the research question important? • Is it interesting to our readers? • Is it valid? A scientifically sound study.

  29. What editors look for • Short, clear, precise title • Good abstract • Good design and methods • Clear conclusions • Brevity • Follow instructions

  30. What reviewers look for • Good design and methods • Simple tables and figures • Logical organisation • Brevity • Balance • Appropriate statistics • Their papers

  31. What reviewers look for • Good design and methods • Simple tables and figures • Logical organisation • Brevity • Balance • Appropriate statistics • Their papers

  32. Design well • Decide politics • Choose journal • Read instructions to authors/papers • Set framework • Prepare drafts • Distribute • Polish • Submit

  33. Order of writing? • Results • Methods • Introduction • Discussion • Abstract • References

  34. Order of writing? • Methods • Results • Introduction • Discussion • Abstract • References

  35. “It is much easier than my previous job. I used to be a researcher.”

  36. More reading • Hall GM, ed. How to write a paper. London: BMJ Publishing Group. • Peat J. Scientific Writing Easy when you know how. BMJ Publishing Group. 2002. • The Vancouver Group. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedial journals.www.icmje.org

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