wpdemosites, Author at Research Medics

Should I Publish Open-Access? Things to Consider

The traditional publishing industry underwent a paradigm shift over the last decade, an expected outcome of the internet accessibility worldwide. With the steady increase in the number, and quality, of open access (OA) journals, many researchers are left wondering whether they should go that route or not. When deciding whether to make one’s research OA, […]

Why Publish in English?

In the early twentieth century, scientific publications in French, German and English were held in the same regard internationally. After World War II, the United States government began a major economic expansion that allowed it to become the richest and most influential country in the world. This gave the English language further prominence in many […]

Medical data cleansing and checking: Save time by planning ahead

I’ve spent quite a bit of time recently analysing clinical datasets for a couple of projects. This has reminded me of the mistakes I have made in the past, and the lessons I have learned to make life SO much easier. I thought I’d share a few thoughts! Planning ahead and following some simple rules […]

Navigating the journal submission process – are you really prepared!

Who remembers the days of mailing your valuable manuscript to a journal’s editorial office, or even faxing through your 20+-page document? Simpler times, maybe. Nowadays, you almost have to take an intensive course to come to grips with the complexities of some of the online manuscript submission and tracking systems used by journals and publishers. […]

Lifestyle changes and health. One size does not fit all

Continuing the theme of lifestyle influences on health and misinformation, I saw a patient in clinic last week who had taken the advice to join a gym and exercised regularly for 30 minutes 3-4 times a week. They were bitterly disappointed that they had not lost weight. In a similar vein, I was teaching medical […]

Why perform a meta-analysis?

A meta-analysis is a powerful statistical procedure for combining and comparing data from multiple studies that have all tested a particular hypothesis with the objective of identifying patterns among the results. The meta-analysis can then be used for a variety of purposes:Publication of Systematic Reviews: How effective is a particular treatment? Are there differences between 2 […]

New tool helps authors find the right reporting guideline for their manuscript

Reporting guidelines help and guide authors in the preparation and accurate reporting of research studies, e.g., CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, and CARE for case reports. Editors of biomedical journals will often ask authors to provide evidence that they used and adhered to […]

Selecting reviewers for your submitted manuscript

Many peer-review journals now request reviewer recommendations during the submission process. Selecting suitable reviewer(s) is critical to facilitating and surviving the peer-review process. The recommended reviewer must be someone who is an expert within your speciality, is still active, and has recently published within your particular area of research. Selection Strategies. There are a number […]

Lies, damned lies, and statistics revisited

I posted previously on reporting of scientific studies by the popular press. Diet related topics seem to be particularly prone to problems, I guess because they are particularly newsworthy. Diabetes also makes a good headline? A story from 2012 comes to mind, as a number of patients asked me about it. This study was published in the BMJ in […]