Scientific writing and publishing is a vital component of medical advancement. Publications are used to transmit new developments in human knowledge to the rest of the world. This knowledge must be accurate, valid, reproducible, and clinically valuable. Many ambitious physicians and scientists aspire to publish their work in high-impact publications.
What are the Effective Steps for Publishing in a High-Quality Medical Journal?
Choose a Journal and Read the Journal’s Instructions.
It is critical to decide on authorship and the order of authors, including the corresponding author, ahead of time. 6 All authors listed on the final manuscript must have contributed substantially to the work to be held accountable and accept public accountability for the publication’s content. When preparing your paper, carefully observe the author guidelines, including the word limit and the number of tables and figures allowed. Many journals permit the submission of supplemental material as part of your publication, subject to the word count and figures/tables constraints.
Prepare the Manuscript
- Organize the Manuscript – Begin by outlining the manuscript with this basic structure in mind. The first rough draft would be a list of crucial points to describe beneath each section and subsection.
- Prepare the Manuscript – Pay attention when drafting the manuscript to avoid plagiarism (including self-plagiarism), fraud, and fabrication.
- Colleagues should provide feedback and revise the manuscript – After completing the work, share it with co-authors and one or two non-author colleagues for criticism and feedback. Address and correct the English after revising to verify that your idea or ideas have been appropriately and fully communicated.
Submit the Manuscript
The majority of scientific journals now demand submissions be made through their websites. Most journals allow authors to propose reviewers who should and should not evaluate an article during the manuscript submission process. Such comments are beneficial to the editorial staff of the journals. Choose your title and keywords carefully so that readers can discover your paper. A brief cover letter that includes a two- to a three-sentence overview of the manuscript’s relevance might provide essential context to the editor.
Receive the Editor’s Communication and Revise the Manuscript
Acceptance of a paper as submitted is extremely rare. Do not be offended if your manuscript is rejected. In reality, only about one in every four articles is approved by a top journal. If adjustments are requested, it is critical to provide a thoughtful and respectful response to maximize the likelihood of later acceptance.
Resubmit the Manuscript
Include a cover letter to the editor with point-by-point responses to the reviewers’ remarks and ideas when submitting a revised manuscript, and address all complaints and suggestions as extensively as possible. It would help to highlight the Changes in the updated text to evaluate thoroughly.
Conclusion
To summarise, the process of publishing a manuscript in a high-impact journal begins with selecting an important question, designing a sound study with statistical power, carrying out the work with impeccable integrity and attention to detail, writing an excellent manuscript, submitting it to the appropriate journal, fully responding to reviewer comments, and completing the standard post-acceptance checks. Nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing your paper published and visible to the rest of the world.
