Publications in Professional Literature: Tips to Achieve Success
October 2003
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. Cathet Cardiovasc Intervent 2003;58:391-396.
2. O’Conner, PT. Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996.
3. Strunk, W Jr. and White, EB. The Elements of Style. 4th ed: New York: Macmillan, 2000.
4. Gibaldi,J and Franklin, P. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed: New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
5. The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers. 14th ed: Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1993.
6. Webster’s Encylopedic Unabridged Dictionary. San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2001.
7. Spilker, B. Guide to Clinical Trials. New York: Raven Press, 1991.
