Transcript Tips for getting your work published

Tips for writing well and getting
your work published
Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD
McGill University, Montreal
Editorial board member:
Lancet Infect Dis
PLoS Medicine
PLoS One
International J of TB and Lung Disease
Journal of Epidemiology & Global Health
In academia, publications are critical for success (tenure, grants, etc.)
To get postdoctoral or advanced training positions, publications are quite critical
Publishing is the natural culmination of your hard work.
Be a finisher!
Do not contribute to the already bad problem of publication bias!!
While almost all trials with “positive”
results on antidepressants had been
published, trials with “negative” results
submitted to the US Food and Drug
Administration, with few exceptions,
remained either unpublished or were
published with the results presented so that
they would appear “positive”
BMJ 2012
Optimism bias, non-replicated studies, and
selective reporting
If exposure and disease
are not associated
False positive study
Hot topic Bias
Publication Bias
100 studies will be designed
If  = 0.05
5 studies show false
positive results
THE FALSE
POSITIVE
RESEARCH
CYCLE
(Choi, 1998)
Positive results bias
5 studies will
be published
Likely to be meta-analyzed
Editor’s bias
Courtesy: Bernard Choi, PHAC
PLoS Med 2005
Here are some
• Target the right journal
• Tell a clear, simple story [identify your message early]
• Follow a clear structure [why you started, what you
did, what you found, and what it means]
You know a lot about your research; do not assume the editors and reviewers do!
• Have others read your manuscript before submission
– A good guide will give critical but constructive feedback
– You could present your paper to a group and get great
feedback
• Go through multiple drafts before submitting
• Make sure your final manuscript is polished and
presentable (no typos, no bad formatting, etc.)
• Be very careful about copying and pasting from
online sources (plagiarism)
• Follow existing standards/templates (STARD, CONSORT,
PRISMA, STROBE, etc.) – use subheads liberally
• Do not overstate the importance of the findings
• Clearly discuss study limitations
• Do not expect the paper to get accepted:
– Revise and resubmit is the most desirable first decision!
• If asked to revise, address every comment and do it politely
– Make it easy for the editor to see that you have addressed all comments
thoroughly
– You don’t have to make all changes, but you need to explain what you did and
why
Peer reviews can greatly improve your paper –
Take reviews seriously and learn from them
If rejected (which will happen a lot!), use the reviews to improve
the paper and quickly re-submit – perseverance is critical for
success
I began my journey 15 years ago…
And have persisted, and gotten better
(hopefully!)
As with everything else, you get better
at writing/publishing with time!