A surgery trainee's guide to writing a manuscript

Surgery (Oxford), 2012

Research is an essential part of surgical training, so a surgical trainee must publish to prosper. The most important piece of advice is to seek expert help before commencing the process of research and subsequent publication. Having a piece of research worthy of communication to peers is an essential prerequisite, but there are many different types of publication, and many different avenues for publication. Starting with a simple case report is often a good beginning; publication in high-profile, highimpact-factor journals requires high-quality research such as randomized trials or systematic reviews. The more high profile the research, the more likely there are to be formal rules about its conduct and its publication (CONSORT, PRISMA etc). Writing in scientific English requires economy of style and linguistic restraint; many readers will not have English as a first language. By convention, scientific articles are written in IMRAD style e introduction, methods, results and discussion. This author has evolved a method to make writing a scientific manuscript as painless as possible. It may be tempting to relax once the writing is complete, but managing the paper through submission can also be challenging. Most journals will not accept a paper immediately, but will require corrections suggested by independent referees after formal peer review. All dealings with journal editors should be professional and courteous.

Journal of Surgical Research, 2007

Writing and publishing are key to career development and academic success for surgeons who have less time than ever to devote to these activities. To improve the scientific writing skills of its faculty and trainees and to help them complete their manuscripts and grant proposals more quickly, the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) established a service dedicated to scientific writing and editing. Through coursework in scientific writing, individual writing consultations, and editorial review, the service helps academic surgeons with the difficult tasks of writing and publishing their research and seeking extramural funding. The service has rapidly become a successful adjunct to the academic mission of the UCSF Department of Surgery and could offer a model for other academic surgery departments to increase scientific productivity and advance the academic surgical mission.

Acta Med Indones, 2007

The production of publications is a key component of one's career advancement in medicine. The goal of this piece is to discuss five tips to help health profession students get started in medical writing. First, students should take full advantage of the time-saving resources at the local academic biomedical library. Second, outlining a manuscript is one of the essential first steps for producing a successful, high-quality publication. Third, planning the manuscript and writing efficiently is critical since many young authors are either in medical school or residency and do not have ample time to devote to the writing process. Fourth, communicating complex concepts, thoughts, ideas, and observations in a simple way is important and helps limit redundancies, awkward passages, and improves reader comprehension. Lastly, a student can maximize their chances at publication if they are persistent in how they approach manuscript submission. The chances for successful publication of a project can be increased if young authors consider the tips supplied here.

Indian Journal of Private Psychiatry, 2021

Many journals and other published guidelines provide large, sometimes strict instructions to be included for becoming eligible in academic journals. However, there is a lack of simple and clear recommendations on how to write such scientific articles. We propose a simple and easy-to-follow hypothesis-based approach. The introduction section should start by introducing the relevant concepts, formulate the study hypothesis, mention the gap in knowledge in the existing literature, and describing the study hypothesis in simple language at the end. The material and methods section must describe the study design, sample or material, the tools, instruments, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and procedures used to test the study hypothesis. The results section must describe the data analyses that lead to the confirmation or rejection of the hypothesis. The discussion must state whether the study hypothesis has been confirmed or rejected and compare the study result with previous research. It should clarify the limitations of the study and explore the relevance of the study findings for clinical practice and future research. An abstract at the beginning of the manuscript, usually structured with objectives, material and methods, results and conclusion, should be added. Acknowledgments, ethical approval, informed consent by study subjects, conflicts of interests by authors, and a reference list will be needed in most scientific journals.

Paediatrics & Child Health, 2006

Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, 2016

Publication has become a burning issue among Indian medical fraternity owing to certain academic and professional necessities. The large number of submissions to the anaesthesia journals has resulted in accumulation of too much below average scientific material. A properly written manuscript is the dream of every editor and reviewer. The art of preparing a manuscript can be acquired only by following certain basic rules and technical aspects, besides knowledge and skills. Before preparing the manuscript, a target journal should be considered. All the instructions to the authors pertaining to that particular journal should be followed meticulously before preparing the manuscript for submission. The basic structure of the manuscript to be followed can be summarised by the acronym IMRaD (introduction, methods, results and discussion). The current review article aims to highlight all those mandatory and desirable features which should be kept in consideration while preparing a scientific manuscript for publication.

Be modest. “If you are convinced that you are on the verge of a major breakthrough, and that you are in fact at the point where Chemistry leaves off and Physics begins, then you will have to drop the whole thing”. Be more impressed by how much you have still to learn than by how much you think you know. Be reasonably demanding. “If all else fails, lower your standards”. 338 L. A. Michel Be rational. “If your reasoning is silly, illogical, irrational… sometimes it’s beginning to make sense. But try to rephrase your message”. Be sure of one thing, however : you must learn how to write, because Science demands written expression. To learn to write, you must learn to read. To learn to write well, you should read good writing. Be confident. Most probably, you know more than you think you do. Take your work seriously ; yourself less so. Confidence is essential ; arrogance is deadly. Don’t be afraid to explore unknown territories. “If at first an idea is not absurd then there is no hope for it”. The only way to learn how to write a scientific paper, it is by writing a scientific paper. You may not be the strongest, you may not be the fasted, but you will be damned if you are not trying your hardest in order to learn how to use words and how to put them together. What you need the most to establish your ability to publish is courage. Courage is to realize that while you may not get everything you work for, you will certainly work for everything you get. Thus, courage is what it takes to sit down and fill up the blank screen of your computer or an empty sheet of paper. Courage is what it takes to begin writing a paper !

One of the key priorities of a scholarly teacher is to demonstrate the ability to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, and transformation of new knowledge into applications that can be of value to the profession and the teaching/learning community. However, successful contribution to a scholarly activity such as publication is challenging particularly when academics lack confidence in their writing skills.