Scientific writing and publishing in medicine and health sciences

Book excerpt: Writing and publishing scientific papers is the core business of every researcher, but is often experienced as difficult and frustrating. Good scientific content of a paper alone does not guarantee its publication in a good journal, because various aspects affect the writing and publishing process. This book is a quick guide into effective writing and publishing papers. It provides authors with clear and concise key information on 12 major parts of the process, from how to get started to dealing with reviewers’ comments. We describe each part succinct and easy-to-read, structured into background information (‘‘What you should know’’), concrete advice (‘‘What you should do’’), and a checklist of the main points to consider. Authors can read the book as a whole but can also use it as a reference book to look-up advice for a particular part while writing. With the information from this book authors from the medical and health sciences increase their joy in writing papers and their effectiveness in getting them published in good journals.