Writing and Publishing Manuscript: Steps To Follow
- 1. Writing and Publishing Manuscript: Steps To Follow
- 2. Publication Process Pre-writing: Step 1 • Identify the target journal • Read authors instructions Writings: Step 2 • Follow ICMJE guidelines for content development • Writings and reviewing • Format the manuscript as per the journal guideline Publishing: Step3 • Pre-submission checklist • Manuscript tracking
- 3. Identifying Target Journal • Identifying a target journal is a pre-requisite for manuscripts • Selection of journal is based on – Scope of the journal – Target audience of the journal – Types of articles published – Open access option – Impact factor – Journal indexing – Acceptance rate – Frequency of publication
- 4. Reading Author’s Instructions • Ethical guidelines • Authorship criteria • Conflict of interest • Copy rights • Review process • Manuscript preparation (formatting as per ICMJE guidelines) • Submission procedure
- 5. Writing Title Page • Article title: Precise and informative title with study design can provide description of the full article • Author information: Authors complete information with affiliations and full contact details should be provided and also should mark the Corresponding author • Sources of financial support: Grants, equipment, drugs, and/or other support that facilitated to conduct the research work • Word count: Word count excluding abstract, acknowledgments, tables, figure legends, and references • Number of tables and figures: Specifications on number of tables and figures are also required
- 6. Writing Abstract • Summary of the main text in the article • Original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses require structured abstracts (i.e. should follow IMRAD format) • Key information about the background, purpose and main findings along with the conclusion of the study • Should be understandable and informative but not too detailed
- 7. Writing Introduction • Background for the study i.e., the nature of the problem and its significance • Highlight the unmet needs and rationale for conducting the study • State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested • Cite recent and only directly relevant references • Do not include data values or conclusions from the work being reported
- 8. Writing Methods • Study design: Clearly mention about the type of study, how and why a study was done in a particular way • Selection and description of participants: Describe selection of participants (must include eligibility and exclusion criteria) • Study endpoints: Specify study’s main and secondary objectives • Statistics: Must be described in detail so that a person can judge its appropriateness for the study and verify the reported results – Avoid relying completely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as p-values, as they do not convey important information about effect size and precision of estimates
- 9. Writing Results • Presentation of results in logical sequence in text, tables, and figures, • Give the key or most important findings first • Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text • Include data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified in the methods section • Additional information related to methods and/or results can be included in the supplementary material
- 10. Writing Discussion and Conclusion • Discussion should begin with brief summary of the main findings and possible explanation of these findings • Specify the novelty and important aspect of study • Avoid repetition of data or other information which is already mentioned in the article • Strength and limitations of the study must be addressed • Conclusion should highlight the significant findings of the study and indicate possible improvement with future studies • Should end with clear and concise “take home message”
- 11. Writing References • Provide direct references of original research articles • References of review articles are good way of guiding readers to body of literature but they do not always reflect original work accurately • Conferences abstract should not be used as references • References of paper accepted or not yet published should be marked as “in press” or “forthcoming” • Manuscript submitted but not published should be referred as “unpublished observation” with written permission from source
- 12. Making Tables • Displays information concisely and efficiently • Possibly reduces the length of text • Each table should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and should have a title • Title of table should be short, self-explanatory and informative enough to allow reader to understand table’s content without going back to text • Each column should have short and abbreviated heading • Explanatory matters should be kept in footnotes (e.g. nonstandard abbreviations, symbols to explain information etc)
- 13. Adding Illustrations (Figures) • Digital images must be in suitable format for print publication • Figures must be either professionally drawn and photographed or submitted as photographic-quality digital prints • Should be self explanatory • Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers • Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background
- 14. Publishing Manuscript • Pre-submission checklist – List of authors with their affiliations – Cover letter – Manuscript file – Figures file – Table file – Conflict of interest form – Signed author disclosure form – Supplementary materials • Submission process in journal – Selection of article type – Enter the title of the manuscript – Add authors’ name – Submit abstract – Enter keywords – Add attachments (manuscript, tables, figures, conflict of interest, other relevant file)
- 15. THANKS Turacoz Skill Development Program 973, H-block First Floor Sector-7, Dwarka, New Delhi-110075. +91 – 9810036125 011 – 47039856 hello@turacoz.in www.tmedicalwritingtraining.com