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Professor Shikora, moderated by Ahmad Bashir, talks about the importance of publication for the dissemination of medical knowledge and for your personal academic career. He reviews the steps to take follow in order to improve the chances for a paper to be accepted for publishing.
Rejection rates are high, specially for journals with a high submission rate, and even good papers may be rejected. Fresh, new or interesting material is needed and good English grammar is mandatory. Results and conclusion must be consistent. Original contributions and review articles have the best chance of being of interest for journals. Other categories include brief communications, letters to the editor, case reports, and new concepts. The structure of a manuscript must be respected and each journal has specific guidelines. The “hook” is the abstract and it should be succinct and organized, in order to avoid immediate rejection. The main parts of a manuscript should be the introduction, the methods, the results, the discussion, and the conclusion.
Professor Shikora goes through all these questions and gives his advice based on his experience as chief editor for Obesity Surgery. He also gives examples of papers that would be rejected and goes through the reasons why.
It is highly recommended that a mentor or senior review the manuscript before submitting it. Following the journal’s instructions is mandatory.
After the presentation, there is a debate with the panel members (Ali Aminian, Abdelrahman Nimeri, Alan Saber) and the audience following a short quiz:
- Have you ever submitted a paper for publication before?
- Have you ever been rejected?
- Did the rejection make you stop from submitting the paper again?
- Did you revise the paper and then had it be accepted for publication?
