Scientific Writing: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Academic publications are a crucial element of scientific progress and knowledge advancement. Traditionally, academic writing has been within the purview of research and teaching institutes where time and resources are specifically made available and allotted for the same. However, the private practitioners spend their professional lives primarily as treating physicians at non-teaching institutions or smaller clinics, either by personal choice or out of other concerns, like monetary need. Nevertheless, this should not deny them the benefits of taking up scientific writing.

The most important advantage (some may call it a side effect) of preserving academic activity in private practice is the regular reading required to remain up-to-date with the latest information in the field. This paves the way for professional development and has ancillary benefits on patient care and job satisfaction, which in turn keeps us from falling into the rut of boredom and eventual burnout.

However, the private practitioner tends to be a solo player faced with several limitations. It is never easy to prioritize and allocate time for academic activities on top of managing a busy practice. Support in the form of professional guidance, financial grants, and opportunities for collaboration are often hard to come by. Lack of easy access to journal articles and reading material can also be an obstacle to academic research. Despite these restrictions, learning to document clinical data is something that will serve the aspiring clinician-researcher well.

Publishing academically has plenty of advantages. For one, strengthening one’s resume with a decent number of publications adds a definite edge during job interviews and performance reviews. The quality of one’s published work is also an important deciding factor for scholarships, awards, honorary/conferred degrees, key positions in professional bodies, invitations to deliver orations, membership in technical committees and task forces of professional organizations, and finally professional growth and satisfaction.[1]

Here, we attempt to lay out a few pointers and general guidance that may help medical professionals, especially those in private practice, take up (or at the very least consider taking up) serious academic activity and scientific writing.

Do Your Homework

As the age-old saying goes, there is no shortcut to success. Before embarking on the road to publishing, one must try to gather the maximal information possible on the body of scientific work already out there regarding the topic of interest. Repeating what is already known is a wasted effort and quite pointless.

Time Management

If serious about publishing, one must be ready to set aside time from one’s daily routine. Prioritize tasks by setting clear goals and deadlines, and break down a large project into smaller, easily manageable steps in a time-sensitive manner. Design a schedule in which literature review, research, and manuscript preparation are managed in a balanced way. Advanced applications, namely UPDF^[TM], which help to read through and assimilate larger data files, are quite useful. Seeking professional help early on in specific areas that one may not be an expert in, (for example, statistics) will also help save time.[1,2,3,4]

Stay Organized

Develop a system to organize data. Make it a habit to take good-quality clinical photographs and save them along with relevant and adequate clinical data. One never knows when a single case turns into an interesting case series of noteworthy consequences. When commencing a pre-designed study or research paper, sort and group the pertinent information and save them as appropriately titled folders. Apps, such as Evernote^[TM], Obsidian^[TM], and Roam Research^[TM], can be used for making notes and sharing data across devices. Information that cannot be easily retrieved becomes more of a hindrance than a resource.

Importance of a Good Image

The goal of a good clinical image is to convey the essence of a particular case to someone who has not seen or examined the patient. This is vital in many clinical scenarios as the disease morphology may change because of the nature of the disease or in response to treatment. Taking serial images and cataloging them sequentially for later retrieval is crucial. With the advent of newer cameras, lenses, and sensors, even a good mobile phone can be used to document images and videos for use in publications or presentations.[5] Mobile phone applications, like Before and After—Image Comparison^[TM], will be useful for taking standardized images in an outpatient clinic.

Sooner the Better

Whoever goes to the moon now; even if they were to teleport there somehow magically, will still only be referred to as a follower of Neil Armstrong. Be an early bird and document your observations in some format (it might even be a letter to the editor or a response letter) if you want to get the proverbial worm before someone else does. Starting academic writing early in one’s career makes it easier to incorporate it as a part of one’s professional life.

Do Not Underestimate the Power of Small Things

Any published scientific material has its worth. In a private setting, it is easier to write small articles, such as letters, replies, case reports, innovations, pearls, and images in practice. They do not demand much time, compared to an original article or study which is more time-consuming and resource-intensive. It is also wise to remember that the phrase “very common” is a “very” relative terminology. Something that may be common in one part of the world can be an exotic finding elsewhere and can find a place in many standard and reputable journals even if as a clinical image article.[6,7] Typically, shorter in length and simpler in its structure, a case report can be a good starting point for entering the field of scientific publishing.[8]

Table of Contents (TOC) Subscription

Every journal provides its table of contents for free via email upon registration. Doing this (preferably via a dedicated email exclusively to prevent flooding of personal ID) can help keep us updated on the latest publications and get a sense of what is happening in the academic arena around the world. Nowadays, even paid journals keep a few articles as open access so readers can reap a double benefit by subscribing to the TOC.

Circumventing Ethical Committee Hurdles

Any original article or a study will need an ethical committee clearance preferably from the first author’s institution. This can be readily circumvented by multicentric studies and collaborative writing. Associate with those who have access to ethical committees in their institutions. Multicentric studies also aid in building networks of like-minded individuals with varied areas of expertise who are ready to join hands and work as a team.

Collaboration and connecting with peers and experts

Having an account on research-oriented websites, such as ResearchGate^[TM], is useful to connect with both national and international researchers in the same field who share the same areas of interest. Additionally, one can follow interesting authors and topics, as well as source full articles to publications directly from the authors, if they are willing to share them. Attending scientific meetings on areas of interest provides another avenue to meet renowned researchers in the same field. In this digital age, collaboration for academic writing is easier than ever before.

Sourcing articles and online resources

Our very own Indian Association of Dermatologists Venereologists and Leprologists [IADVL] is proving to be a rich arena to source academic resources for its members. The e-library access to source articles is provided to representatives from each state and to people involved in academic activities of the association, for example journal editors and academy members. The IADVL Academy has a helpline to fine-tune the research projects through Special Interest Group (SIG) Dermatology Clinical Research and the Online Research Cell of the Kerala State Chapter of IADVL helps its members to do the background work for taking up research and publications. They can be reached through the IADVL administration to source articles and academic material depending on the availability. SIG Dermoscopy of IADVL has a dedicated email that can be used to discuss and clear the doubts on dermoscopy images.

Choosing a journal

We are spoilt for choice when it comes to the abundance of available journals. Choose the journal for publication wisely. Factors that need to be taken into consideration are—the scope of the journal, time from submission to decision (and acceptance to publication), indexing, reputation and reach of the journal, and free vs paid status. And of course, stay clear of “predatory” journals. It is not easy to get a manuscript published in a genuine journal. However, a positive outcome is worth the effort spent rather than falling prey to such predatory substandard publications.[1] Every journal clearly outlines its scope and requirements. Before starting the submission process, one must go through the author instructions of the target journal and ensure that he has complied with the requirements of the journal.[9] A good journal is always open to communication. Clarify your doubts directly before submission to avoid loss of time.

The oft-quoted phrase “knowledge is power” can be extrapolated to the process of academic writing as well. Being a private practitioner should never be a reason to shy away from the rewarding journey of scientific publishing. We hope these pointers make it easier for all those who are interested!