Reporting and Publishing Research in the Biomedical Sciences

281 Pages·2018·4.67 MB·English

by  Peush Sahni

Reporting and
Publishing Research in
the Biomedical Sciences
Peush Sahni
Rakesh Aggarwal
Editors
123
Reporting and Publishing Research
in the Biomedical Sciences
Peush Sahni • Rakesh Aggarwal
Editors
Reporting and Publishing
Research in the
Biomedical Sciences
Editors
Peush Sahni Rakesh Aggarwal
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Department of Gastroenterology
Liver Transplantation Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of
All India Institute of Medical Sciences Medical Sciences
New Delhi, Delhi Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
India India
ISBN 978-981-10-7061-7 ISBN 978-981-10-7062-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7062-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017964264
© The National Medical Journal of India; Yuan J. Hutin for chapter 6 2018
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Foreword
Medicine is both an art and a science. Progress in medical science enables improve-
ment of existing methods of diagnosis and treatment and, at times, leads to break-
throughs in treatment of diseases that were hitherto beyond remedy. Such progress
depends on research—in the laboratory, in the ward and in the field. Vital informa-
tion gained through research is of little use unless it is shared among the peer group.
This book addresses the methods by which such information can be disseminated
effectively—and in a manner that even the humblest professional or research stu-
dent is stimulated to imbibe and use for the benefit of patients or for further study.
Many of us in India are educated in schools and work in institutions where
English is a second language. Expression in this language does not come easily as
we may think in our mother tongues and translate our thoughts into English each
time we are required to communicate. This often leads to difficulties in understand-
ing what we wish to convey. Special efforts are necessary to gain fluency in English
and familiarity with its idiosyncrasies. This book has chapters that could help such
aspects of communication.
Transmission of research-related information for permanent record is principally
through journals and books. We also transmit information through papers read at
meetings, seminars and conferences. Each mode has its own preferred style that
must be mastered for successful communication. These styles have evolved over
time. Currently, we disfavour long-winded sentences and opt for brevity and crisp-
ness. It is important to get to the point and convey the gist of our data, conclusions
and suggestions as effectively as possible.
Most books and journals on biomedicine published in India have a long way to
go before they reach international standards. We are also prone to look upon ethics
in relation to writing and publication with indifference if not disdain. The conse-
quent malpractices make our publications unwelcome to local and international
scholars of repute.
The book you hold in your hands brings together principles and guidelines that
will help you transmit your scientific findings and suggestions to your peers in a
manner that is at once easy to understand and effective. The editors and authors have
taken care to incorporate the latest advances in publication and have done their best
to make this volume comprehensive. The standards laid down are those followed the
world over.
v
vi Foreword
When you have something important to communicate—that is, when you need to
put pen to paper or start tapping your keyboard purposefully—this compilation of
essays will stand you in good stead.
Sunil Pandya
Jaslok Hospital
Mumbai, Maharashtra
India
Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
Mumbai, Maharashtra
India
Editors’ Note on the Revised Edition
We believe we owe an explanation to our readers as to why a revised edition of this
book is being issued so soon after the appearance of the first edition in October
2015.
The first edition was released by Dr. George Lundberg (the former editor of
JAMA) during the first conference of the World Association of Medical Editors
(WAME), held at New Delhi in October 2015 and attended by several contributors
to this book. A limited number of copies were produced digitally, in time for release
at the conference and distribution among the contributors and a few others. Our
intention was to print more copies shortly thereafter.
However, on publication, two of our well-wishers (John Mackrell and Dinesh
Sinha, who had assisted with the editing and production of the original edition)
submitted the text to analysis that might almost be described as forensic. They pro-
posed substantial revisions, and we asked our contributors to review their chapters
in the light of those suggestions. While some updated their contributions, others
went along with much of what had been suggested. We now have a book with
greater conformity across chapters and many more cross-references between them.
For the limited number of readers who have access to copies printed for the con-
ference, this book may be perceived as a revised edition. But for most of you, this
will be the first version of the book now open (as indeed we are) to your valuable
criticism.
June 2016 Peush Sahni
Rakesh Aggarwal
vii
Editors’ Note
Biomedical research is essential for humankind. In the past century, it has played a
major role in increasing average human longevity by more than two decades. In addi-
tion, it has made it possible for us to eradicate some diseases (e.g. smallpox), brought
us to the verge of eradicating others (e.g. polio) and has changed the outcome of
several others (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, human immunodeficiency virus
infection and hepatitis C). Dramatic as these successes are, new diseases are still
emerging, for instance, H1N1 influenza and Ebola. Though the diseases we investi-
gate may change, biomedical research will stay with humankind as long as it exists.
Communicating research findings to peers—at meetings and, more importantly,
through publications—is an integral part and the final step of the research cycle. As
has been said about scientific research, ‘If it ain’t published, it never happened’.
However, it is quite common to come across research studies that fail at this step.
Though the fate of some may be due to the poor quality of science, many fail due to
problems faced during writing and publishing, particularly in low- and middle-
income countries.
Medical schools and science faculties in universities give their students a good
grounding in science, medicine, scientific experimentation and research methodol-
ogy. However, they often do not prepare them well for the task of writing and pub-
lishing research. Thus, when biomedical scientists start writing up their research
findings, they often find themselves adrift and rudderless. This book, Reporting and
Publishing Research in the Biomedical Sciences, attempts to bridge this gap.
The late Professor S.R. Naik was in many respects a mentor to both of us. He was
editor of the peer-reviewed Indian Journal of Gastroenterology, one of the few
MEDLINE-indexed medical journals published in India at that time. He realized
that a major impediment to running a journal in India was the poor quality of manu-
scripts, mainly because physicians and scientists had little training and poor skills
in writing. He decided to take the problem ‘by the horns’ and organized workshops
for authors in the science, and art, of writing their research work. Of course, he
could not conduct the 1- to 3-day workshops alone. So he ‘coerced’ us and others
(some of whom have written chapters for this book) to join him. He would at times
spend his own money to travel to these workshops, just as we often spent ours. Thus,
we participated in several workshops with him—teaching skills in writing and pub-
lishing to young and old alike while learning the ropes and catching the bug of
‘conducting writing workshops’.
ix
x Editors’ Note
As we moved from one workshop to another, we realized the need for a book
which would consolidate all the information in one place. Indeed, Professor Naik,
too, had felt such a need. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer at an early age,
he spent his remaining few months editing Communication for Biomedical
Scientists. The volume was published by the Indian Council of Medical Research
and distributed free of cost. However, it has been out of stock for quite some time
now, and we hope that this book will fill the vacuum. In a sense, this work is our
tribute to Professor Naik and an expression of our gratitude for all that we learnt
from him, in scientific writing and otherwise.
We have tried to get experienced writers, editors and researchers to write the
chapters and have aimed to cover some of the recent developments in publishing
that often stump the fledgling researcher. We are very grateful to all the authors,
who have been so cooperative over the long gestation of this project. Their willing-
ness to share their contributions with other authors has enabled us to bring informa-
tion right up to date and avoid unnecessary duplication. We applaud their response
to the consequent late changes and tight deadlines.
Praise, if any, is due entirely to our collaborators. The responsibility for any
faults rests entirely with us, the editors. We will value any reader suggestions and try
to incorporate them in subsequent editions of this book.
If this book eases the task of converting your research work into a manuscript,
we will consider that our efforts have been worthwhile.
Last, but not least, we wish to acknowledge the support of Mr. Dinesh Sinha of
Byword Editorial Consultants without whose help this project might never have
come to fruition.
4 September 2015 Peush Sahni
Rakesh Aggarwal
Preface
My personal experience with courses and books on biomedical communication
began around 1986 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New
Delhi, when Stephen Lock, who was then editor of the British Medical Journal
(BMJ), brought with him three colleagues—Jane Smith, William Whimster and
Alex Paton—to conduct a workshop on ‘better medical writing’. We had invited
people interested in writing up research and were astonished when about 100 turned
up. They sat through the day absolutely enthralled by the proceedings.
The BMJ team in a single day made us aware of the problems faced by both
authors and editors in their efforts to produce good papers and good journals. For
authors it meant a lot of hard work. This included first spelling out clearly and con-
cisely why the work was done, how it was done, what were the results obtained and
what did they mean. Was the paper important enough to influence medical practice
in India or even elsewhere? There were discussions on whether Indian authors were
being discriminated against by Western editors and reviewers, which might be why
few papers from India appeared in journals with high impact factors. (The answer to
this was not ‘no’ but ‘maybe’, and the reasons they said were complex—it was true
the papers from India were not always put together well, but the subjects they dealt
with also did not always have a wider relevance.)
Stephen Lock suggested that we publish more in, and concentrate on improving,
our own journals, and that is where the idea of starting The National Medical
Journal of India (NMJI) was born (the present editor of NMJI is involved in this
book’s creation). The team also discussed the nitty-gritty of writing clearly and
concisely, stressing that simple writing involved a lot of hard work with many, many
revisions of the text. All of this would become easier, they said, if would-be writers
had proper guidance from experts in the field either through personal contact or
from their articles. I, for one, was introduced to many new ideas such as agreeing
early on who a paper’s authors should be and their order of appearance, asking
friends who were not involved in the work for help (colleague treatment), leaving
the written piece alone for a week or so to ‘mature’ before returning to it and being
realistic about choosing which journal to send it to and reading its ‘instructions to
authors’ carefully.
We recorded the proceedings and published a small booklet, also called Better
Medical Writing, which sold out quickly. There was obviously a demand for such
guidance relevant to the Indian situation. A year later, Subhash R. Naik held a
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