Dr Joseph Coyle

1. Scientific Publishing
Joseph Coyle, M.D.
Eben S. Draper Professor of
Psychiatry and Neuroscience
Harvard Medical School
McLean Hospital
Editor:
Archives of General Psychiatry

2. Peer-reviewed scientific publications are the
most important product of a scientist
NIH now only considers these in bench-marking
progress on a grant
Book chapters are increasingly invisible as they
are not covered by PubMed
All other good deeds (IRG, academic
committees, teaching) are secondary to
publications

3. Writing the scientific manuscript
1. Use simple, declarative sentences; avoid the passive voice
2. Follow directions!!
3. The Introduction should provide the context for the
hypothesis. Cite primary sources (they will probably be
your reviewer!)
4. Methods should be sufficiently detailed so that the study
can be replicated but prior methods if the same can be cited.
5. Results should be presented succinctly. Figures and tables
should only be used if they add clarity to the presentation.
Avoid redundancy (i.e., bar graphs of results presented in a
table).
6. The Discussion should not simply repeat the results. It
should place the results in context, discuss limitations and
point to future directions.
7. Have someone else read the manuscript

4. Choose the right journal
1. Does it publish papers on the same topic?
3. What are its turn-around times? First decision?
5. Rejection rate?
7. Decision to publication? ePub?
9. How many reviewers? Appeals process?
11. Availability on line?
13. Citation impact?

5. What do I do with the reviews of my
manuscript?
1. If the reviews are negative, place in drawer for 2
days and then learn from them
2. Carefully respond to each criticism/suggestion by
modifying the manuscript
3. If feasible, do the extra experiments. Editors don’t
like “cosmetic” changes when the deficits are real
4. Don’t waste time with flat-out rejects
5. When returning the revised manuscript, write a
cover letter that provides a point by point
response, showing the changes that have been
made. DON’T BE ARGUMENTATIVE!

6. The “don’ts” of scientific publishing
1. Don’t salami slice; avoid LPUs. 1 J Neurosci article
is worth more than 3-4 brief communications
2. Don’t plagiarize. Editors have access to search
engines that can identify 7 consecutive shared
words.
3. Don’t double publish, even if it is in a new
language
4. Be careful of the expanding data base
5. Hazard of post-hoc multiple comparisons
6. Don’t manipulate digital images to “optimize”
them. This could be viewed as scientific
fabrication.

7. How do I get on an editorial board?
1. Ask senior faculty members to help out on
journal article reviews in your area of
expertise
2. Try to focus on a few journals that are in
your area
3. Write constructive, polite, balanced and
informed reviews
4. Do not editorialize (“Best paper ever”)
…..That is the editor’s role
5. Return review in a timely fashion
6. After you have done a number of reviews,
introduce yourself to the editor/deputy
editor