Writting scientific research and contact journals for publication

1. Communicating Clinical
Research
Marwa Elhady
Ass Prof of pediatrics, FMG, Al-Azhar University

2. Objectives
To discuss how to
• Increase the chance of publication
• Increase research impact
• Identify manuscript writing process

3. Why Do You Publish?
To communicate well
You need to understand your own goals
Fortune: Promotions, grant applications, funding
Responsibility: to society or taxpayer-funded research
Fame: Be recognized professionally by peers
Advance in the profession: work requirement

4. What are you trying to say and how
can you express it effectively?
• Research article
• Review article
• Short communication
• Letter to the editor
• Case report Which journals
publishthis type of
article?

5. “Put yourself in their shoes”
• Effective communication needs to meet the needs of
the audience/reader
• Why do they spend the time to listen/read?
– Don’t assume they care about you or your goals
– You must offer them value toward their goals
• How do they think about the topic?
– There is often a “standard worldview” in a community
– You must relate your work to their interests, approach,
emphasis

6. To increase the chance of publication
What are journal editors looking for?
know
P
I
C
O
Patient/participant
Intervention
Comparison/ Study type
Outcome

7. To increase research impact
What are readers want to know?
know
Why this study done? What did you do? What did you find?
How does the study advance the field?
Introduction & Aim Methods Results
Discussion & Conclusion

8. Generally interested
• They are not specialists in
the topic
• Want to know what’s
going on in the field
• Did not read all the
recent work you built on
• May lose interest if you
get too technical
Specialists
• There work in the field
• Not eager to accept
your work
• seeking for mistakes
• look at work from their
own assumptions
• Want to see how you
overcome problems

9. Aims
Preparing manuscript
Read the author instructions
Check recently published articles in the journal
Format the article appropriately
Research problem Conclusion
Ensure these items are clearly linked
to give your manuscript a clear focus

10. Writing article
Title
Abstract
Manuscript
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
References
The important components of research article

11. Titles
Title should be a concise, clear and informative
to get reader’s attention
• Questions
• Describe methodology
• Abbreviations
• “New” or “novel”
Should include
• What’s important
• Keywords for indexing
• Study design
• Conciseness (<20words)
Should avoid
Participant Intervention OutcomeComparison

12. Elevated homocysteine in obesity: Did it induces
insulin resistance?
Question P – I – C – O
Diagnostic role of elevated homocysteine for insulin
resistance in children with obesity: a randomized
controlled trial
Novel biochemical marker for differential diagnosis of
seizure: ischemia-modified albumin
Inappropriate words: Novel P – I – C – O
Ischemia-modified albumin biochemical marker
improve the differential diagnosis of seizure: A case
control study

13. Journals often ask for a running title
Use abbreviations when possible
Short title
Avoid any unnecessary words
Try to include P – I – O from PICO

14. Running title
Ischemia-modified albumin biochemical marker
improve the differential diagnosis of seizure: A case
control study
IMA for DD of seizure
abbreviations Remove unnecessary words P - I - O

15. Abstract
First impression of any paper
• Why this study done?
• Importance of the topic
Background &
Aim
• What did you do?
• Patient information & InterventionsMethod
• What did you find?
• Outcome of the study
Result
• How the study advance the field?
• Relevance of your study
Conclusion
Not exceeding 200 - 250 words
Enable readers to identify the basic contents of a paper
quickly and accurately

16. Two types of abstracts
Structured Narrative
Divided into distinct sections Written as single block of text
Check author guidelines

18. Keywords
If you want to be widely read (visible on search engine)
You need to be readily discoverable
Search Engine Optimization

19. • Well organized.
• Highly stylized with distinctive components.
• Have the proper order of components.
• Clear using simple words of known meaning.
• Use simple and short sentences
• Avoid passive sound
• Right gummer
Writing manuscript
Make sure you fit your work into the
general agenda of the community

21. Don’t worry about length/format at first
• It’s easy to change format
• It’s possible to cut length as needed
• Provide the extra material in a technical
report

22. Plagiarism
Never copy and paste
You your own words to express your work
Reconstruct sentences
Many online and software programs help for
checking
Paper rate

23. Introduction
Research problem &AimWhy the study was done？
Introduce the topic
• Worldwide/regional relevance
• Broad/specialized audience
What is known about topic
• Up-to-date studies
• Cite broadly worldwide
What is not known
• Clear description of problem
• Use keywords like ‘however’
Aim
Research problem
Background

24. Research Problem
• Determine variables to be measured
• Determine the studied population
• Determine the measured Outcome
Variables population Outcome
affect causing
Measure / Evaluate / test hypothesis
Aim

25. Methods
They need to know:
Who/what was used:
• Samples / participants
• Materials
• Machines and equipment
How study conducted
• Methodology & techniques.
• Inclusion, exclusion criteria
• Control characteristics
How data analyzed:
• Statistical tests
• Quantification methods/software
• If a published method is modified, such modifications
must be described in detail.
• Describe new methods in detail.

26. Methods/ Technical Sections
Reproduce your findings
Build on the research
It is important for
Researchers in your field
Evaluate study design
Validate results
Peer reviewers
General readers will likely skim this so
– Make it easy to understand by non specialist
– Put key definitions, use bold to draw attention
Specialist will seek for errors or weakness So
– Make sure you defend and explain all steps
– point out a difficulties you had to overcome

27. How did you choose the number of
participants?
– Ensure your study is not underpowered
– Sample size is dependent on effect size
– Always do a power calculation!
Small
sample size
Large
sample size
Effect size Large effect size Small effect size
Significance level p < 0.05 p < 0.01
Expected variability
in each group
Low High
Expected difference
between groups
Large Small

28. Results
What did you find?
Authors are very familiar with findings
but readers are not
So logically guide the readers throughout
the findings

29. Results
• Do not simply list the findings
Present data concisely and interpret
scientifically.
Describe relationships among findings
• Use appropriate statistical tests
Use absolute values
State exact P-values
State 95% confidence intervals (CI) → 95% of
the sample is within 2 SD of the mean

30. Do not simply list your findings
Drug A reduced tumor volume by 32.7%, increased blood
pressure by 12.3%, and increased the patient’s weight by
7.3 kg.
Drug B reduced tumor volume by 22.3%, increased blood
pressure by 15.6%, and increased the patient’s weight by
2.4 kg.
Drug C reduced tumor volume by 38.1%, increased blood
pressure by 6.9%, and increased the patient’s weight by
9.2 kg.
Drug C is more effective in reducing tumor
volume and increasing the body weight with
lower increase in the blood pressure than both
drug A and B as shown in table (1)

31. How much is 28%?
Is this a clinically relevant reduction?
How does this effect generalize to the population?
What is the 95% CI?

32. Common statistical problems
• The appropriateness of statistical tests
When in doubt, consult a statistician
• Distribution of data affects analysis
The mean ± SD, Parametric tests (e.g., t-test &
ANOVA) only used for normally distributed data
If SD is ≥ mean → not normally distributed
If SD is > 0.5 × mean →not normally distributed

33. Common statistical problems
Statistical significance ≠ biological
significance!
• Avoid relying solely on P-values, which fail
to convey important information about
effect size and precision of estimates.
• Express findings with appropriate indicators of
measurement error or uncertainty (e.g. CI 95%)

34. Tables and figures
• Present results concisely using tables and
figures as needed.
• Table & figure legends should had sufficient
information to minimize text usage.
• Do not present the same information in both
tables, figures, and the text.
• All tables & figures must be numbered in the
order in which they are mentioned in the text.
• Clear figures and figure captions and proper
table formatting

36. Clear figures and figure captions
Figure 1: shows silver staining
of tissue with mesangiolysis
and double contours of
capillary basement membranes
Figure 1: shows silver staining of
glomeruli with mesangiolysis (single
arrow), prominent endothelial swelling
(arrowhead), red-cell fragments (double
arrows)

37. Discussion
How the study contributes to the field
Interpret findings / explain
Show the relationships among observed findings
Similarities & differences
Unexpected/negative results
Limitations
Summarize what was done
Begin with research problem
Briefly describe study design
Summarize key findings
Why important to the field = Impact
conclusion & Implications

38. Related Work
• It must be well organized
• General readers will use this as survey of the
important ideas of the field
• Specialists will check if they were cited sensibly and
evaluate if the study is fits into the field
• So explain how the study differ from each cited
source, especially if you make different assumptions
or solve a different problem!

39. Common mistakes in the Discussion
Do not restate your results

40. • Identify key findings, application and the sort of
evidence you provide
• Conclusion should not be a summary of the work done
or a virtual duplication of the abstract.
• Conclusions should be justified by the experimental
design, methods, and results.
• Marketing your conclusions
Conclusion
What do you want readers to remember about the study?

43. We demonstrated that serum periostin level was predictor
of impaired pulmonary function and treatment response in
asthmatic children.
Conclusion
The role of biomarkers in assessment of bronchial asthma is an
area of increasing interest. However, debate continues on the
optimal parameters to be included and the role biomarkers play
in the clinical assessment of asthma.
Background
Serum periostin is a promising biomarker of treatment response
and disease progression that could be used for optimization of
drug doses and prediction of impaired pulmonary function in
children with bronchial asthma.
Answer
However, debate continues on the role biomarkers play in
the clinical assessment of asthma.
Question

44. Consider references from the journal itself.
Reference citations must be accurate and
complete.
The number of references should be
appropriate without a complete historical
bibliography
References

45. Why is this topic important?
Why are these results significant?
What is the key result? (breakthrough!)
Why are you submitting to this journal?
Why will this journal’s readers read it?
covering letter
Together with the abstract of your paper, the cover letter
is one of the first things the editor will see.
so make it count!
Keep the letter as direct and short as possible
The longer it is, the easier it is to overlook something important

46. Thank
youGood Luck