Writing for Publication

James MunroUniversity of Sheffield

Why write?

Fame and fortune Bolster the CV Pressure from above … dissemination

So what’s the problem?

No ideas Ideas but no writing Writing but nothing sent off Writing sent off but not

accepted

The other problem

Time Writing is a lot of work Even academics don’t have

time

What we’ll talk about

Writing an academic paper 10 ways to be rejected Magazines and books are a

bit different

Any ideas?

Experience Everyday working Problems Costly activities

More ideas

Questions from clinicians …especially those you can’t

answer Things that go wrong Things you disagree with

You already have something But is it publishable?

Is it interesting? Could it affect practice or policy?

Is it generalisable? Almost everything is

publishable somewhere

Don’t start writing yet!

Don’t write yet!

What’s the context? What’s the story?

The context

Everybody needs a context

Context for a research paper

What’s already known? What’s unknown? What’s controversial?

The need to know

Providing a context and a question creates the reader’s “need to know”

What’s the story?

If this was a news report, what would the headline be?

What is the central idea?

BMJ approach

What is already known on this topic?

What does this study add?

Outline your story: 1

Context Once upon a time…

Methods …there were 3 bears…

Outline your story: 2

Results …and she ran home.

Conclusions …never go into the woods alone.

Don’t start writing yet!

Who is the story for?

Who’d like to know? Who needs to know?

Reasons for rejection

The commonest reason editors give…

…is that the subject matter wasn’t suitable for their journal

So find the right journal

Get to know the journals in your area

What are their interests? What are their styles?

So find the right journal

Where were other papers on this topic published?

Journalology

Refereed or not? Listed in bibliographic

databases? Impact factor?

Write for a journal

Select one of the journals which might be interested in your story

Write for that journal

Writing for that journal

Instructions for authors Usually on the web

But you need to see a copy Headings, weighting, referencing, interests

Develop your outline

Introduction Methods Results Discussion

Introduction What is the issue? What is already known about

it? Set up a question in the

reader’s mind Explain why your study is

needed

Methods

What did you do? How did you do it? Have a logical order Don’t report results here by

mistake!

Results

Follow the order of the methods

Who? When? What?

Discussion

Summarise the findings Draw out the lessons Acknowledge the limitations What should happen now?

BMJ’s suggested structure Statement of principal findings Strengths and weaknesses of the study Strengths and weaknesses in relation to

other studies, discussing particularly any differences in results

Meaning of the study: possible mechanisms and implications for clinicians or policymakers

Unanswered questions and future research

Structuring

Subheadings are essential For RCTs, use CONSORT For MA of RCTs, QUOROM For MA of observational

studies, MOOSE

Macro-editing

Highlight the key sentence in each paragraph Does the story flow?

Ask others to read the draft Give them a specific task

The little things Spelling Grammar

Tense, voice, singulars and plurals Consistent layout Page numbers References See bmj.com

When your paper is rejected

Don’t be discouraged!

When your paper is rejected

Try to find out why Does it need revising? Send it off to another

journal… … after checking for style

Referees’ comments

Don’t be defensive You don’t have to do

everything they suggest But you do have to address

each point

Don’t!

10 ways to get your paper rejected

1: Choose a journal which has never shown an interest in this subject

2: Write well over the specified word length to show the importance of the topic

3: Try to include at least 10 key messages and some extra data from other studies

4: See if you can improve on the journal’s standard headings

5: Don’t bother with any statistical advice, since nobody understands it

6: Don’t worry too much about spelling or grammar

7: Ignore the journal’s own referencing style

8: Add a few new results in the abstract which you didn’t have space for in the main text

9: Use different terms for the same thing interchangeably

10: For a more personal touch, send a handwritten manuscript

Good luck!