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Writing & publishing academic papers (additional slides) Edwin van Teijlingen 1 Structure of a paper XI Be consistent: • Tense changes within paragraphs. • Don’t mix US and UK English. • Swopping between passive and active language. • Lists with ‘,’ AND ‘;’ Structure of a paper XII Key words • Helps other to find your paper in a data base with mlns of papers. • Indexers index title & key words; don’t use title words in key words. • Some papers mean ‘words’ others accept phrases: ‘antenatal care’ Finding key words: MeSH • Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) controlled vocabulary thesaurus for indexing records • Sets of terms naming descriptors in hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity. • Because MEDLINE is American, it generally uses American spelling rather than UK: • anesthesia rather than anaesthesia • Program / labor /rather than programme / labour 4 Presenting Qualitative Research • For some social science journals it is not always necessary/ expected to separate out Findings AND Discussion. • Introduce all themes • Introduce to each theme with your quotes then the literature! • Have confidence 5 Presenting Qualitative Research Structure – each theme 1st sentence: Introduce the theme idea of the paragraph • First: Develop the theme, include relevant examples, details, evidence, your quotations. • Subsequent sentences: Add references! • Last sentence: Summarises the paragraph or leads into the next paragraph. Gatekeepers to getting published Getting your paper into a journal means you have to overcome at least two hurdles: • Editor: is paper appropriate for journal, timely, etc. • Reviewers: is paper so methodologically sounds, well written, analysed, etc. 7 On rejection I If reviewers were negative, but helpful consider submitting elsewhere. Some journals, e.g. Midwifery have a high rejection rate (in 2012 about 54%). Journal editors may suggest more appropriate journals for your type of paper. You may already have another journal in mind yourself. On rejection II • If you have good material/data be persistent! • You can appeal editorial decisions. • Take rejection at face value, i.e. someone did not like your paper, NOT you have conducted the worst study ever and you are an idiot. Submit elsewhere! Proof-reading 1. Academic content • • Someone who knows your topic; General academic reader (logic/structure) 2. Grammar/ style/ spelling/ etc. • • Native speaker / student of English You can pay someone at the end! 3. Page proofs of accepted paper • Read word for word 10 Proof-reading • • • • Check details, read line by line Tables, references, Check what text editor has changed. Check authors’ details, change addresses and qualifications of co-authors. 11 Researcher ID/ ORCID 12 Pitchforth E, et al. (2005) Writing up & presenting qualitative research in family planning 13 & reproductive health care, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 31(2): 132-35