Writing and Publishing Manuscript:�Steps To Follow

Turacoz Skill Development Program provides publications medical writing training on the various steps involved in writing and publishing a manuscript.

1. Writing and Publishing Manuscript: Steps To Follow

2. Publication Process

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 [email protected] www.tmedicalwritingtraining.com