Workshop Hones Medical Writing Skills

A journey begins with a first step. A research paper begins with a question—several questions, actually.

“You must first ask yourself, ‘What is my research question?’” says Prof Dr Stephanie Joachim, head of the Experimental Eye Research Institute at the Department of Ophthalmology at Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany).

“What was your thesis before you conducted your clinical study or before you conducted the experiment in the lab?”

Dr Joachim addressed this and other questions in a four-hour workshop at the ESCRS Annual Congress on 11 September. Joining her on the workshop faculty were Dr Angeli Yu of the University of Pittsburgh (United States), Prof Dr Ramin Khoramnia of the University of Heidelberg (Germany), Mayank Nanavaty of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (United Kingdom), and Kristine Morrill and Faustino Vidal Aroca, both with Medevise (France).

The workshop presented strategies to improve clinical writing and increase publication success rates. Combining a theoretical overview with practical advice, the workshop covered what to prepare before you start writing a paper as well as how to present your data.

The faculty presented optimal strategies for creating tables, graphics, and figures and identifying the mistakes typically made during this process. They also discussed the dos and don’ts of generating a methodology, results, and discussion. Particular attention was given to developing the discussion section and interpreting clinical results.

The time factor

The faculty members were intimately familiar with the publication process, having authored or co-authored numerous research papers and served on editorial boards of leading ophthalmic publications. Notwithstanding their experience, they still ask themselves basic questions before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

“Before you write a paper, think about the tables and charts you are going to make to present your data,” Dr Khoramnia told workshop attendees.

“I always put a lot of time into figures and tables, because when I make a presentation later about my paper, I typically just use the tables and charts for my slides.”

Another factor is the publication you are targeting and the audience you want to reach.

“Always go with a journal that is peer-reviewed,” said Dr Khoramnia. “Also check to make sure that the journal is on PubMed--if it isn’t, probably nobody is going to read your paper.”

One underappreciated factor is time—not just the time needed to write about the research, but the time involved in collecting the data, making revisions, getting approvals, conducting additional experiments or statistical analyses, and so on.

“You need to really be realistic in your timeline,” Dr Joachim said. “Sometimes it might be easier, especially if it’s your first publication, to do a ledger or a case series first before you jump into a big research paper.”

The faculty also stressed the importance of perseverance. “About 70% of the papers I’ve published appeared in the fourth journal I approached,” Navatany told attendees. “So don’t give up. It’s a process.”