TWENTY YEARS AS AN EDITOR – WHAT DID I LEARN? D P Mikhailidis BSc MSc MD FACB FCP FFPM FRCP FRCPath Academic Head Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry (Vascular Disease Prevention Clinics) Royal Free campus, University College London
MY CREDENTIALS Editor-in-Chief • Curr Vasc Pharmacol (IF = 3.582) • Expert Opin Investig Drugs (IF = 4.058) • Expert Opin Therapeut Targets (IF = 4.038) • Curr Med Res Opin (IF = 2.596) • Expert Opin Pharmacotherapy (IF = 2.077) • Angiology (IF = 1.122) • Vasc Dis Prevention • The Open Cardiovasc Med J
MY CREDENTIALS Principal Editor • Platelets (IF = 2.3) Editorial Board Member • Curr Pharmaceutical Design (IF = 4.4) • In vivo (IF = 1.0) • Clin Appl Thromb Hemostas (IF = 1.4) • J Cardiovasc Pharmacol Therapeut (IF = 1.7)
MY CREDENTIALS REFEREEING Over 1,000 papers for 89 different journals AUTHOR 761 entries on MEDLINE in June 2010 CITATIONS 9,794 on ISI site in June 2010
PROCEDURE Select a journal Format text in journal style Submit Receive response Respond to referee comments or resubmit Check proofs
STRUCTURE OF PAPER • • • • • • • • •
Title page (+ short title) Abstract (+ key words) Introduction Methods (subheadings) Results (same subheadings) Discussion References (style, style, style!!!) Acknowledgements Declaration of Interest (now essential)
STRUCTURE OF REVIEW • • • • • • • • • • •
Title page Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion References Acknowledgements Declaration of Interest Size ??? Invited or submitted review???
STRUCTURE OF REVIEW
• Theme (novelty etc) • Team (who does what?) • Target (which journal?)
STRUCTURE OF LETTER • • • • • • • •
Very short text Few references Few messages To contradict a finding To re-interpret a finding To support a finding To present some early (unpublished?) findings Mostly related to material published in the same journal
STRUCTURE OF EDITORIAL • PRESTIGIOUS, especially in high ranking journals • “Few” references • “Few” messages • Mostly related to material published in the same journal • Usually invited
SOME GENERAL ADVICE ABBREVIATIONS: • Hour, hours, hrs, h • After first introduced in Abstract and in Main Text (list of abbreviations?) • Be consistent! (e.g. using several abbreviations to mean the same thing) • Be sensible! (e.g. VD) • Units mg/L or mg/l? Add mmol/l?
SOME GENERAL ADVICE ABSTRACT: • AMAZINGLY! Key findings are not included • Details are included in the Abstract but not in the text! • Key words? • Should include p values, species or number of patients, duration of treatment …..
SOME GENERAL ADVICE REFERENCES: • Consistent • In journal style in both reference list and in the text
SOME GENERAL ADVICE SPELLING: • Spellcheck • English/American (e.g. aemia/emia)
SOME GENERAL ADVICE STATISTICS: • Gaussian or not? • No SEM use SD • Median and range • Be sensible (e.g. cholesterol 123.45 mg/dl) • Separate section in METHODS • 95% CI?
SOME GENERAL ADVICE
This man’s height is? This man’s weight is?
SOME GENERAL ADVICE
This man’ height is 176.83 cm This man’ weight is 100.27 Kg
SOME GENERAL ADVICE Rushing serves no purpose! Discuss findings among the team and then write them Short sentences (up to 20 - 30 words. Not a whole paragraph!) Decimal points not commas Read whole text (avoid repeating yourself)
SOME GENERAL ADVICE Nobody is always right! The team opinion is your best bet. Also, several areas of expertise now in one paper. Work on the success of the mission → get your material published.
SOME GENERAL ADVICE You may only have minutes attention from an Editor before he decides not to further consider your submission. Factors: • Does the Editor know you or your centre? • What is the reputation of your centre (ranking list)? • Presentation quality
SOME GENERAL ADVICE You must be able to defend every sentence. XX was markedly increased in patients with YY disease compared with control subjects.
SOME GENERAL ADVICE You must be able to defend every sentence. XX was markedly increased in patients With YY disease compared with control subjects. But the p value is not significant!!
SOME GENERAL ADVICE The obtained results showed ‌. What is wrong with that wording?
SOME GENERAL ADVICE The obtained results showed …. What is wrong with that wording? If they are results then they must have been obtained! Change to: Our results showed ….
SOME GENERAL ADVICE These results were statistically significant (p = 0.001). What is wrong with that wording?
SOME GENERAL ADVICE These results were statistically significant (p = 0.001). What is wrong with that wording? If they are significant then they must have been obtained by a statistical test! Change to: These results were significant (p = 0.001).
SOME GENERAL ADVICE ALL tables and figures must be able to “stand alone”.
PROCEDURE Selecting a journal: • How many issues per year? • Rejection rate? • What are you sending (paper, review, editorial, letter) – what are the journal’s rules?
PROCEDURE Selecting a journal: • Have you refereed for this journal? • Have you previously published in this journal? • “Open” or “conventional” journal? • Page, submission or colour illustration charges? • Speed of response and publication?
PROCEDURE Selecting a journal: What is the impact factor (IF)? Search ISI website by title or by topic. An IF of 5 places the journal in the top 4% of all listed journals. An IF of 4 places the journal in the top 9% of all listed journals. Most journals are not even listed!
PROCEDURE Where is your journal listed? PubMed/MEDLINE PubMed Central ISI SCOPUS Excerpta Medica EMBASE Biosis Google Scholar The next RAE will look at citations
PROCEDURE Open journals: • • • •
Full text available to anyone free of charge Publication fee (e.g. $600 – 800) Listed on MEDLINE? Open journals are favoured by many (e.g. MEDLINE) • “New” fashion?
MARKERS OF ‘RESEARCH’ SUCCESS 1] MEDLINE entries 2] CITATIONS (ISI) 3] H (Hirsch) factor 4] EDITORSHIPS (I will need him in the future?)
MARKERS OF ‘RESEARCH’ SUCCESS 1] MEDLINE 2] CITATIONS (ISI) 3] H (Hirsch) factor 4] EDITORSHIPS These markers are available on the internet. Therefore, you cannot hide any more. List of most cited people in several fields (e.g. clinical medicine).
MARKERS OF ‘RESEARCH’ SUCCESS • Sometimes these factors affect outcome • Even if your text is not accepted it is worth pointing out to the Editor that the referee quality was poor. Also, point out who is making these comments! • Some of these comments are passed to the referee by the Editor. Next time he/she will be more careful! The Editor may never use this referee again!
Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
Titus 2:8