Writing and Publishing a Scientific Paper:

What You Need to KnowPamela Fried, Director

Diana Winters, Associate Director

Academic Publishing Services

aps@drexelmed.edu

Academic Publishing Services (APS) does not serve as legal counsel to Drexel University College of Medicine or to individual authors.  Information received from APS does not constitute legal advice.  Individuals should consult their own attorneys or the Office of the General Counsel, as appropriate, with respect to legal questions or concerns about their publishing activities and copyrights.

Publishing Process

1Idea!

11Check proofs

6Format

article forjournal

2 Designproject

4Write draft

5Selectjournal

7Compilerequired

parts

8Register w/

journal

9Submitarticle

10Revise

12Published

OrReformat

for anotherjournal

Consult research compliance office

Request permissions

Contact Academic

Publishing Services

Consult mentor

3Analyze results

Academic Publishing Services, 19th floor, New College Building, Room 19314, 215-762-1854; aps@drexelmed.edu

“A clear question must be posed

before the research is planned . . .”

Huth EJ. How to Write and Publish Papers in the Medical Sciences. Philadelphia: ISI Press; 1982, p. 1.

1Idea!

“An effective paper deals with an

important question, clearly answered with

adequate evidence for the answer.”

2Design project

2Design project

Consult research

compliance office

Consult mentor

regularly

Huth EJ. How to Write and Publish Papers in the Medical Sciences. Philadelphia: ISI Press; 1982, p. 1.

Meaningful question + meaningful answer

= material for a scientific paper

3Analyze results/

conclusions

Taylor RB. The Clinician's Guide to Medical Writing. New York: Springer; 2005.

4Write draft Select

article type

Consult mentor

Review

Case report

Original research

Letter to theeditor

“For academic advancement, manuscripts that require development of a specific hypothesis to be evaluated using new original data are more important than review articles or case studies.”

Holmes Jr, DR, Hodgson PK, Nishimura RA, Simari RD. Manuscript preparation and publication. Circulation 2009;120:906-913.

4Write draft

Holmes Jr, DR, Hodgson PK, Nishimura RA, Simari RD. Manuscript preparation and publication. Circulation 2009;120:906-913.

Reserve timeSet deadlines

Organize notes

Consider journals

to submit to

Review well-written

papers

Consult mentorregularly

4Write draft

Develop anoutline

Authorship

Holmes Jr, DR, Hodgson PK, Nishimura RA, Simari RD. Manuscript preparation and publication. Circulation 2009;120:906-913.

OrganizeReferences(EndNote)

Obtainpermissions

for copyrightedmaterial

4Write draft

Avoid plagiarism

Viewlibrary

Web site

4Write draft

Working

title

Eye-catching, concise,

informative

Important words

first

Final title

Sample titles

Effect of family history on outcomes in patients treated with definitive brachytherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer (18 words)

Definitive brachytherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer: effect of family history on outcomes (14 words)

Titlepage

Word count

Articletitle Corresponding

author: complete contact information

Authors’ names,affiliations Key words

4Write draft

Huth EJ. Writing and Publishing in Medicine, 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999, p. 258.

4Write draft Abstract

UnstructuredStructured

Huth EJ. Writing and Publishing in Medicine, 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999, p. 258.

Use IMRAD structure:

IntroductionMaterials and methods/ experimental proceduresResultsAndDiscussion

4Write draft

What is known?

Why? Questionbeing

answered

4Write draft

Introduction

Materials andmethods

Subjects

Studydesign

Huth EJ. Writing and Publishing in Medicine, 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999, pp. 79-81.

Measurements

Animal,human

protections

Supplies:manufacturer,

city

Statisticalanalysis

Interventions

Data collection

4Write draft

Results

No interpretation

Logicalpresentation

Provideinformation

only once

Representativedata

4Write draft

Discussion

State relationships

Answerquestion

Generalizeresults

Explainlimitations,

biases

Recommendfuturestudies

4Write draft

References

Check citations against text

before submitting

Add/deletecitations

Importcitations

Format fortargetjournal

“Cite as you

write”

4Write draft

Citation management systems:

Endnote

Tables

Write short,descriptive

title

Number,cite inorder

Matthews JR, Bowen JM, Matthews RW. Successful Scientific Writing, 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2000, p. 83.

Present inlogical

sequence

Useword-processing

program

Checkjournal

limitations

4Write draft

Figures

Number, cite inorder

Obtain permission from

identifiablesubject

Makehigh-resolution

files

4Write draft

Halftone

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

'93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07

Line Drawing

Halftone

Halftone: 300 dpi

Line drawing: 1200 dpi

Figures/illustrations

Revise, revise, revise

Coauthors

Colleague ingeneral

fieldAcademic Publishing Services

Expert inspecialty

4Write draft

5Select journal Consult

mentor

Identify journals in your specialty

(> 10,000 scholarly/technical journals)

5

Select journal Consult

mentor

Amin M, Mabe M. Impact Factors: Use and Abuse. Perspectives in Publishing No. 1. New York: Elsevier Science; 2000. Seglen PO. Why the impact factor of journals should not be used for evaluating research. BMJ 1997;314:497.

Consider the journal’s

Impact Factor

What does your article contribute

to the journal?

6Format article

for journal

Contact APS

Consult Information for Authors:

Length requirementsForms for signatures

7 Compile

all required elements

Contact APS

AuthorshipSubstantial contribution

Contribution to intellectual contentFinal approval

Huth EJ. Writing and Publishing in Medicine, 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1999, p. 258.

7Compile

all required elements

Contact APS

No duplicate submission

7 Compile

all required elements

Contact APS

No prior/redundant publication

Contact APS

Conflict of interest disclosures

7 Compile

all required elements

Affirm protection of human subjects and

animals involved in research

7 Compile

all required elements

Contact APS

Confidentiality statementsigned by patient

7 Compile

all required elements

Contact APS

Letters of permission for copyrighted material

7 Compile

all required elements

Contact APS

Cover letter

7 Compile

all required elements

Cover Letter

“Make sure to address your cover letter to the correct journal, and also make sure the date listed on the letter is correct. We understand where we fall in the hierarchy of journals, but at least give us the delusion that we were your first choice.”

Neill US. How to write a scientific masterpiece. J Clin Invest 2007;117:3599-3602.

8Register withjrl submission

system

Contact APS

Save username and password

9Submit article

Contact APS

Journals accept only complete submissions

10 Revise

As requested

Contact APS

Final decisions:Reject

Accept unconditionallyAccept with revisions

11Checkproofs

Contact APS

Check page proofs carefully

12Published!

Your name and work in print!

We can save you hours and hours of time!

Academic Publishing ServicesDrexel University College of MedicineRoom 19314, New College BuildingTel: 215-762-1854E-mail: aps@drexelmed.eduOnline project submission:http://intranet.drexelmed.edu/aps/

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