Getting Published
The dissemination of research work is tremendously important. If you don’t publish your results, then the findings can’t be taken into account by others in the planning of future research projects. Perhaps worse, the research may be repeated unnecessarily with the associated waste of scarce resources. Pharmacists develop many of the skills necessary for good scientific writing as part of their undergraduate training, yet many of us are reluctant to write for publication. One of the obstacles can be not knowing how to begin, even though the approach to writing a scientific paper is fairly well defined.

The key to having your paper published is making sure that you have a clear and interesting take-home message. Before you start to write you should summarise your main findings into two or three sentences; this will help you focus on how to present and discuss the results.

The main parts to any scientific paper are:

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References

After establishing the main message of your paper you should identify your target audience and decide which is the most suitable journal to reach them. In the context of pharmacy practice research, this is not always as straightforward as it seems.

For example, having an article published in the Pharmaceutical Journal will guarantee that most practising pharmacists in the UK have an opportunity to read it, but if your research message is relevant to a wider audience then it may not be the best choice. We should not be afraid to aim for publication in prestigious medical journals, such as the British Medical Journal, and there is an ever-increasing range of general healthcare journals to choose from.

Once you have decided on your first-choice journal you should check out the ‘instructions for contributors’. This will tell you all the practical things you need to know about article submission, such as length of paper accepted, inclusion of tables and figures and the estimated turnaround time. For most journals this information can now be found on a website. Following these instructions to the letter will improve your chances of having the paper accepted.

Journal editors can only publish some of the manuscripts they receive. The editor’s decision may be to accept the paper without changes, to accept it after revision or to reject it outright. Papers to any journal are rarely accepted without modifications and some journals will ask for several revisions before a paper is accepted. Don’t be discouraged if your paper is rejected at the first attempt; you can take advantage of the reviewer’s comments and submit it to another journal.

The following paper provides a good overview of the general principles of writing a scientific article:

Hamilton CW. How to write and publish scientific papers: scribing information for pharmacists. American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy 1992; 49: 2477-2484

Training on Writing Skills
‘Writing is like having a baby; the gestation period is long and the labour painful, but in the end you have something to show for it’

The basic principles of how to write well apply to a research paper just as they do to a new drug evaluation or a Harry Potter novel! The ABC of a good paper is accuracy, brevity and clarity. Don’t expect to sit down and write the perfect draft first time – it won’t happen. You will need to be prepared to write, write and rewrite.

One of our gurus of effective medical writing in the UK is Tim Albert, who is a consultant and trainer in effective writing . Tim runs excellent courses in writing skills for health professionals, many of which have been enjoyed by medicines information pharmacists. If you get the opportunity to go on one, take it! The website contains details of the courses available plus many practical writing tips. If you’re interested in the art of effective writing, we particularly recommend the section on frequently asked questions (e.g. Can I start a sentence with and or but? How can I stop my boss changing everything I write?) Now you will just have to go there (http://www.timalbert.co.uk/answers_effwrit.htm) to find the answers! If you have any pet hates in written communication that make you cringe when you read them, or come across a good misprint or an example of unbearably pompous language you can post them on the Gripes and Groans section - you might even win a prize! We also enjoy dipping into the twice yearly newsletter ‘Short Words’ as a spot of light relief from enquiry answering.

Books On Medical Writing
If you need more detail on medical writing we recommend two excellent books:

• An A-Z of medical writing. Tim Albert. BMJ Books, 2000. ISBN 0 7279 1487 1
  
  
• Medical writing: a prescription for clarity (2nd Edition). Neville W Goodman and Martin B Edwards, Cambridge University Press, 1997 ISBN

Websites On Writing Skills
If you want more on writing skills in general there are some fascinating websites out there. So absorbing, in fact, that you might not manage to get your research paper published, so go there at your own risk.

http://www.askoxford.com
There is a huge amount of information about writing on this site including a word of the day and a quote of the week.

http://www.guardian.co.uk
Click on information, then Style guide. This will take you into the rules governing style, language and political correctness that apply to those writing for the Guardian. This might occasionally be helpful to those working in medicines information (e.g. refer to mentally ill people not “the mentally ill”, and better to say “a person with” rather than “a person suffering from”). The pointers on grammar and language might also be valuable.

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/fun.html
This is a massive collection of humorous material that really made us laugh. It’s probably difficult to find a good work-related reason to go there, though, so maybe it’s one for the home computer. It includes the spoof guidelines on English grammar (‘Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects’), the ode to a spellchecker (‘Eye halve a spelling checker…’), a great list of oxymorons, and ‘Definitions for parents’ that are funny.

Key Websites For Pharmacy Journals

European Hospital Pharmacy

Hospital Pharmacist

International Journal of Pharmacy Practice

Journal of Social and Administrative Pharmacy

Pharmaceutical Journal (including Hospital Pharmacist)

Pharmacy Management

Pharmacy in Practice (Medicom - no website)

Pharmacy World and Science

Primary Care Pharmacy

Other Journals

British Journal of Clinical Governance

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology

British Journal of General Practice

British Medical Journal

Health Service Journal

International Journal for Quality in Health Care

Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety

Quality in Health Care