The impact of your research is greatly limited until you publish your findings in a reputable scholarly journal relevant to the field, such as the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR). As with any journal, each manuscript undergoes a rigorous review process to ascertain its merit as a publishable paper. Here are some tips on how to best design and write a paper that will be both published and have lasting impact on readers and the research community.
General advice
Have something important to say.
- Make sure your paper’s focus is in some way new.
- Use the introduction to build a “case” by pointing out its scientific merit. Review the previous literature, identify the gaps and explain how your research advances existing knowledge. Do not assume readers (or reviewers) will naturally know.
- Finish your introduction with a hypothesis or purpose statement.
Why do manuscripts get rejected?
- Lack of a stated clear purpose or hypothesis
- Reporting inaccurate or inconsistent data
- Inaccurate or outdated review of literature; citations that do not match or support your text
- Presenting insufficient data
- Defective tables or figures; numerical or statistical inconsistencies
- Overreaching conclusions that are unsupported by data
- Inappropriate or suboptimal methods of testing/data collection
- Sample size too small or biased
- Text difficult to follow because of poor language, including word choice, incorrect grammar, spelling or usage
Why is language important?
- Incorrect use of language may confuse or confound the reviewers and block or delay the publication of your paper.
- Do not assume the publisher will correct your language. Run your manuscript by a colleague fluent in English prior to submission or consider professional language editing (also available at webshot.elsevier.com/language edit).
- Be aware of the sentence structure you use.
- Write neutrally and concisely. Avoid casual, colloquial verbiage.
- Construct your sentences in direct, factual bursts. Use short sentences—often only about 12–17 words.
- Use one piece of information per sentence.
- Use the past tense for reporting methods and results. Describe what actually took place, not what typically occurs.
Avoid leaning into grandiosity.
- Do not claim primacy, impact and scope beyond that of the research (e.g., “This is the first report that … ”; “This has not previously been described.”; “This is the first description of … ”). Your results will speak for themselves without such claims.
- Do not overstate or overinterpret your results. Modesty is important in science. Studies bear replication.
Be rigorous and honest in stating study limitations.
- Stating study limitations will not diminish your chances of acceptance; it might even improve them and define the roadmap to subsequent research, adding value.
Beware of unwitting authorship.
- Pressure to publish or curry favor may lead to inclusion of unsupported collateral authorship without the co-authors’ permission.
- Obtain all co-authors’ permission to include their names on the author list, and ensure a meaningful role (and duty) for each.
Disclose conflicts of interest.
- JVIR subscribes to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE ) conflict of interest (COI) disclosure policy.
- JVIR does not accept submissions without a COI declaration. Be prepared to complete the ICMJE disclosure form on JVIR’s submission site before submission. Visit ees.elsevier.com/jvir/ for details.
Educate yourself in publishing misconduct.
- Understand publishing ethics and how to avoid misconduct.
- Understand the risks and varieties of plagiarism and self-plagiarism.
- Suggested resources: elsevier.com/editors/publishing-ethics and http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines.
Specifics
Follow the journal’s Instructions for Authors
- Be aware of different article types and their respective requirements. See which format your research meets, review similar published papers in JVIR and mimic the format.
- Conform to SIR reporting standards documents, and complication grading, where applicable.
Use a compelling title.
- Aim to attract readers’ attention. Identify the main focus of your paper but make the title concise and to the point.
Make the abstract interesting and understandable.
- The abstract is the advertisement of your article. Keep in mind that the abstract may be the only thing a researcher sees on PubMed and use it to decide whether to download the full version of your paper.
- Make it concise, accurate and specific. Make sure it includes actual details of the research and outcomes.
Make materials and methods section focused and detailed.
- Describe how the problem was studied. Include detailed information on the nature of the subjects, methods of selection, materials and all procedures. But do not report which analyses were done when their conduct is plainly obvious in the results section.
- Identify the equipment and describe materials used, including manufacturers’ names and locations (city and state or country).
Make results section clear and easy to understand.
- Highlight the main findings and feature any unexpected finding.
- Report your results in a natural temporal order or in the order of your study endpoints.
- Provide statistical analyses, where suitable.
Use references correctly.
- Nothing tips off an editor more than sloppy use of citations whose source papers do not actually contain the cited information—it raises questions of the authors’scientific rigor, research methods and ethics.
- Use strong primary source references; perform detailed reference searches and review of prior literature.
- Cite references where needed—no unsupported remarks.
- Avoid excessive self-citation (unless truly relevant).
Book it!
Sometimes the work you want to publish is more appropriate for a book format than in a scholarly journal. If you’ve developed a book concept but aren’t sure where to get it published (or how to even get started), the SIR Physician Education Advisory Committee (PEAC) and the society’s publishing partner, Thieme Publishers, can help.
Your first step is to submit a proposal to William Lamsback, executive editor at Thieme, at william.lamsback@thieme.com. Your formal, concise proposal should include:
- Description of the book idea
- Intended audience and your book’s value to them
- Table of contents outlining the book’s organization and structure
- The book’s unique positioning (e.g., is it an especially hot topic, a strong core topic, or a board review book)
- Whether there are any special text features or perhaps a CME or a digital component
If the proposal merits publication and SIR will publish the book, staff will contact the submitter to outline next steps.
If Thieme will act as publisher, and the proposal is approved, Thieme will send a contract to the author that states the page and illustration count, manuscript submission date and royalty information. If the book is a contributor book, the proposal author will secure informal agreements from the chapter contributors.
Responsibilities in the book development process are as follows:
The author:
- Submits the table of contents and contributor contact information to Thieme
- Ensures that contributors follow the basic blueprint for the book and forward completed chapters to Thieme
- Works with contributors to review and correct design proofs
- Completes a marketing questionnaire regarding the book’s strengths and features, suggestions on journals for book reviews, key conferences for displaying the book, etc.
Thieme:
- Sends contributors guidelines for manuscript preparation, information regarding the deadline and a contributor’s agreement
- Sends periodic deadline reminders to contributors and works with the author to collect the manuscripts
- Copyedits and typesets the chapters and processes illustrations
- Proofreads designed pages and sends the book for printing and binding
- Markets the book using the author marketing questionnaire
- Remains in touch with the author regarding the book’s promotion and its progress in the marketplace
An expanded version of this article appeared in the October 2015 issue of JVIR.
