Resources for authors
The following resources will help you to produce high quality research publications:
- Planning and conducting your research
- Writing up your research
- Industry sponsored additional resources - medical writers
- Ethical guidelines and considerations
- Other resources
Planning and conducting your research
It is important to be aware of reporting requirements and think about reporting when you are planning and conducting your research study:
- UK National Health System Research Flowchart (tool providing resources and points for consideration for all stages of the research process: from formulating a research question to the reporting and dissemination of new findings)
- UK MRC Route Map (Medical Research Council guidance through the legal and good practice requirements when designing conducting and disseminating experimental medicine studies)
Writing up your research
A good scientific article combines clear writing style with a high standard of reporting of the research content:
- Guidance on scientific writing
- Reporting guidelines (comprehensive lists of the available guidelines appropriate to each study type)
- Examples of good research reporting (specific examples showing why and how to correctly describe important aspects of your trial or other types of research studies)
When published, your article will start a new independent life - it will be read and critically appraised, and it may contribute to systematic reviews, inform clinical guidelines, and influence clinical practice, etc. So, before you submit your paper to a journal, try to consider whether the article is 'fit for purpose' and able to pass this future scrutiny, e.g. will a Cochrane reviewer be able to identify your study’s methods to assess risk of bias (Cochrane handbook, Table 8.5.a); can numerical results be extracted from your paper without any ambiguity; have you provided enough details about your intervention to allow its use in clinical practice; etc.
Industry sponsored additional resources - medical writers
Medical writers should be aware of any guidelines that apply to the publications they are producing, including the reporting guidelines on the EQUATOR website. In addition to these, a number of guidelines relating to reporting have been developed specifically for medical writers.
Ethical guidelines and considerations
Complete, accurate and transparent reporting is an integral part of responsible research conduct. Many organisations stipulate this in their guidelines:
Other resources
Instructions to Authors (Mulford Library, University of Toledo )
Common Omissions and Errors in Published Research. Dept of Health and Aging, Autralian Government, 2004 (adapted from Polgar and Thomas, 1991)
Explore also EQUATOR Links section
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This page is still under development
Page last edited: 25 October 2011
