Publications in Professional Literature: Tips to Achieve Success

Scenario 2: You’ve just discovered the cure for coronary artery disease or made at the minimum an interesting and reportable observation. What do you do next? Potentional Solution: In the hopes of helping beginning authors add quality to the medical literature, we would like to provide you with some tips for successful writing and publication (see chart). A further detailed article on manuscript development that we’ve written can be found elsewhere.¹ Summary: We hope these 10 steps help you move through the process of creating a manuscript suitable for publication. Please be aware that these steps may not always be a forward progression. At times, going back to the drawing board is indicated. Yet with a planned approach, patience, and the maintenance of an open mind, this process can progress smoothly.

1. Kern, MJ and Bonneau, HN, Approach to Manuscript Preparation and Submission: How to Get Your Paper Accepted. <i>Cathet Cardiovasc Intervent </i>2003;58:391-396.<p>2. O’Conner, PT. <i>Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English.</i> New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996. </p><p>3. Strunk, W Jr. and White, EB. <i>The Elements of Style.</i> 4th ed: New York: Macmillan, 2000. </p><p>4. Gibaldi,J and Franklin, P. <i>MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.</i> 6th ed: New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003. </p><p>5. <i>The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers. </i>14th ed: Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1993. </p><p>6. <i>Webster’s Encylopedic Unabridged Dictionary.</i> San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2001. </p><p> 7. Spilker, B. <i>Guide to Clinical Trials.</i> New York: Raven Press, 1991. </p>