Submitting manuscripts to biomedical journals: Common errors and helpful solutions

Here is a very helpful article from the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. For now it is available free online:

Johnson C, Green B. Submitting manuscripts to biomedical journals: Common errors and helpful solutions. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2009 Jan;32(1):1-12.
This article reviews common, but avoidable, errors that authors may make when submitting to a health care–focused, biomedical journal (eg, chiropractic, medicine, nursing, and physical therapy). As editors, we offer suggestions for improving the quality of manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals, provide suggestions for how to avoid making errors, and recommend effective writing and submission strategies. Read the full abstract:  PubMed Record

See also:
Green BN, Johnson CD. How to write a case report for publication. J Chiropr Med 2006; 5(2):72-82.

Green BM, Johnson CD, Adams A. Writing narrative literature reviews for peer-reviewed journals: Secrets of the trade. J Chiropr Med 2006 Fall;5(3):101-117.

What should be done to tackle ghostwriting in the medical literature?

   Here is an interesting article just published in PloS Medicine [Open Access]:

Gøtzsche PC, Kassirer JP, Woolley KL, Wager E, Jacobs A, et al. (2009) What should be done to tackle ghostwriting in the medical literature?PLoS Med 6(2): e1000023.

Background to the debate: Ghostwriting occurs when someone makes substantial contributions to a manuscript without attribution or disclosure. It is considered bad publication practice in the medical sciences, and some argue it is scientific misconduct. At its extreme, medical ghostwriting involves pharmaceutical companies hiring professional writers to produce papers promoting their products but hiding those contributions and instead naming academic physicians or scientists as the authors. To improve transparency, many editors’ associations and journals allow professional medical writers to contribute to the writing of papers without being listed as authors provided their role is acknowledged. This debate examines how best to tackle ghostwriting in the medical literature from the perspectives of a researcher, an editor, and the professional medical writer.
See also Ghost authorship in industry-initiated randomised trials

Practice Guidelines: Open Access Publications

The following publications are available free online from CACHE’s Open Access Library:

• Nuckols TK, Lim YW, Wynn BO, Mattke S, MacLean CH, Harber P, Brook RH, Wallace P, Garland RH, Asch S. Rigorous development does not ensure that guidelines are acceptable to a panel of knowledgeable providers. J Gen Intern Med 2008 Jan;23(1):37-44.
• Davis D, Goldman J, Palda VA. Canadian Medical Association handbook on clinical practice guidelines. Ottawa: Canadian Medical Association, 2007.
• Palda VA, Davis D, Goldman J. A guide to the Canadian Medical Association handbook on clinical practice guidelines. CMAJ 2007 Nov 6;177(10):1221-6.
• Improving the use of research evidence in guideline development. 2006
  These reviews published in the journal Health Research Policy and Systems were prepared as background for advice from the World Health Organization Advisory Committee on Health Research [ACHR] to WHO on ways of improving the use of research evidence in guideline development.
• Davis DA, Taylor-Vaisey A. Translating guidelines into practice. A systematic review of theoretic concepts, practical experience and research evidence in the adoption of clinical practice guidelines. CMAJ 1997 Aug 15;157(4):408-16.  
• Implementing clinical practice guidelines: A handbook for practitioners. In: CMA Infobase: clinical practice guidelines. Ottawa: Canadian Medical Association; 1997.

Knowledge Translation: Open Access Articles

The following articles are available free online from CACHE’s Open Access Library:

• Cordero C, Delino R, Jeyaseelan L, Lansang MA, Lozano JM, Kumar S, Moreno S, Pietersen M, Quirino J, Thamlikitkul V, Welch VA, Tetroe J, Ter Kuile A, Graham ID, Grimshaw J, Neufeld V, Wells G, Tugwell P.  Funding agencies in low- and middle-income countries: Support for knowledge translation. Bull World Health Organ 2008 Jul;86(7):524-34.
• Kerner JF.  Knowledge translation versus knowledge integration: A “funder’s” perspective. J Contin Educ Health Prof 2006 Winter;26(1):72-80. 
• Graham ID, Logan J, Harrison MB, Straus SE, Tetroe J, Caswell W, Robinson N.  Lost in knowledge translation: Time for a map? J Contin Educ Health Prof 2006 Winter;26(1):13-24.
• Straus SE, Graham ID, Mazmanian PE. Knowledge translation: Resolving the confusion [editorial]. J Contin Educ Health Prof 2006 Winter;26(1):3-4.
• Tugwell P, Robinson V, Grimshaw J, Santesso N.  Systematic reviews and knowledge translation. Bull World Health Organ 2006 Aug;84(8):643-51.
• Pablos-Mendez A, Chunharas S, Lansang MA, Shademani R, Tugwell P.  Knowledge translation in global health. Bull World Health Organ 2005 Oct;83(10):723.

Physician Prescribing Behaviour: Open Access Articles

The following articles are available free online from CACHE’s Open Access Library:

• Esmaily HM, Savage C, Vahidi R, Amini A, Zarrintan MH, Wahlstrom R.  Identifying outcome-based indicators and developing a curriculum for a continuing medical education programme on rational prescribing using a modified Delphi process. BMC Med Educ 2008 May 30;8:33.
• Lu CY, Ross-Degnan D, Soumerai SB, Pearson SA. Interventions designed to improve the quality and efficiency of medication use in managed care: A critical review of the literature – 2001-2007. BMC Health Serv Res 2008 Apr 7;8:75. 
• Del Mar C.  Improving prescribing practices in primary care. A randomised trial and economic analysis of a multicomponent intervention showed small, but important, gains. PLoS Med 2006 Jun;3(6):e229
• De Souza V, MacFarlane A, Murphy AW, Hanahoe B, Barber A, Cormican M. A qualitative study of factors influencing antimicrobial prescribing by non-consultant hospital doctors. J Antimicrob Chemother 2006 Oct;58(4):840-3.  
• Gray J.  Changing physician prescribing behaviour. Can J Clin Pharmacol 2006 Winter;13(1):e81-4.
• Campbell NR, Tu K, Brant R, Duong-Hua M, McAlister FA. Canadian Hypertension Education Program Outcomes Research Task Force.  The impact of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program on antihypertensive prescribing trends. Hypertension 2006 Jan;47(1):22-8. Epub 2005 Dec 12. 
• Herbert CP, Wright JM, Maclure M, Wakefield J, Dormuth C, Brett-MacLean P, Legare J, Premi J. Better Prescribing Project: A randomized controlled trial of the impact of case-based educational modules and personal prescribing feedback on prescribing for hypertension in primary care. Fam Pract 2004 Oct;21(5):575-81.
• Majumdar SR, Soumerai SB. Why most interventions to improve physician prescribing do not seem to work. CMAJ 2003 Jul 8;169(1):30-1. 

Internet Continuing Health Education: Open Access Articles

The following articles are available free online from the CACHE Open Access Library:

• Casebeer L, Engler S, Bennett N, Irvine M, Sulkes D, Deslauriers M, Zhang S. A controlled trial of the effectiveness of Internet continuing medical education. BMC Med 2008 Dec 4;6(1):37. 
• Bennett NL, Casebeer LL, Kristofco R, Collins BC.  Family physicians’ information seeking behaviors: A survey comparison with other specialties. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 2005 Mar 22;5:9.
• Fordis M, King JE, Ballantyne CM, Jones PH, Schneider KH, Spann SJ, Greenberg SB, Greisinger AJ. Comparison of the instructional efficacy of Internet-based CME with live interactive CME workshops: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2005 Sep 7;294(9):1043-51.
• Abdolrasulnia M, Collins BC, Casebeer L, Wall T, Spettell C, Ray MN, Weissman NW, Allison JJ.  Using email reminders to engage physicians in an Internet-based CME intervention. BMC Med Educ 2004 Sep 29;4:17. 
• Curran V, Kirby F, Parsons E, Lockyer J.  Short report: satisfaction with on-line CME. Evaluation of the rural MDcme website. Can Fam Physician 2004 Feb;50:271-4.
• Casebeer LL, Strasser SM, Spettell CM, Wall TC, Weissman N, Ray MN, Allison JJ.  Designing tailored Web-based instruction to improve practicing physicians’preventive practices. J Med Internet Res 2003 Jul-Sep;5(3):e20. Epub 2003 Sep 25.
• Casebeer L, Bennett N, Kristofco R, Carillo A, Centor R. Physician Internet medical information seeking and on-line continuing education use patterns. J Contin Educ Health Prof 2002(1);22:33-42.

Evidence-Based Health Care: Open Access Articles

The following articles are available free online from CACHE’s Open Access Library:

• De Vito C, Nobile CG, Furnari G, Pavia M, De Giusti M, Angelillo IF, Villari P.  Physicians’ knowledge, attitudes and professional use of RCTs and meta-analyses: A cross-sectional survey. Eur J Public Health 2009 Jan 7.
• Montori VM, Guyatt GH. Progress in evidence-based medicine. JAMA 2008 Oct 15;300(15):1814-6.
• Eccles MP, Johnston M, Hrisos S, Francis J, Grimshaw J, Steen N, Kaner EF.  Translating clinicians’ beliefs into implementation interventions (TRACII): A protocol for an intervention modeling experiment to change clinicians’ intentions to implement evidence-based practice. Implement Sci 2007 Aug 16;2:27.
• Jennings SF.  Personal development plans and self-directed learning for healthcare professionals: Are they evidence based? Postgrad Med J 2007; 83(982):518-24.
• White B. Making evidence-based medicine doable in everyday practice. Family Practice Management 2004;11(2):51-58.
• British Medical Journal theme issue:  BMJ October 30 2004; 329(7473)
• David Sackett, William M C Rosenberg, J A Muir Gray, R Brian Haynes, W Scott Richardson. Evidence based medicine: What it is and what it isn’t. BMJ 1996; 312: 71-2.
• Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group. Evidence-based medicine. A new approach to teaching the practice of medicine. JAMA 1992 Nov 4;268(17):2420-5.

Physician / Pharmaceutical Industry Relationship: Open Access Articles

The following articles are available free online from the CACHE Open Access Library:

• Steinbrook R. Online disclosure of physician–industry relationships. N Engl J Med 2009;360:325-327.
• Steiner TJ.  Ethical issues arising from commercial sponsorship and from relationships with the pharmaceutical industry–report and recommendations of the Ethics Subcommittee of the International Headache Society. Cephalalgia 2008 Sep;28 Suppl 3:1-25.
• Gagnon MA, Lexchin J.  The cost of pushing pills: A new estimate of pharmaceutical promotion expenditures in the United States. PLoS Med 2008 Jan 3;5(1):e1.
• Fisher JA.  Practicing research ethics: Private-sector physicians & pharmaceutical clinical trials. Soc Sci Med 2008 Jun;66(12):2495-505.
• Haines IE, Olver IN.  Are self-regulation and declaration of conflict of interest still the benchmark for relationships between physicians and industry? Med J Aust 2008 Sep 1;189(5):263-6.
• Ross JS, Lackner JE, Lurie P, Gross CP, Wolfe S, Krumholz HM. Pharmaceutical company payments to physicians: Early experiences with disclosure laws in Vermont and Minnesota. JAMA 2007 Mar 21;297(11):1216-23. 
• Campbell EG, Gruen RL, Mountford J, Miller LG, Cleary PD, Blumenthal D. A national survey of physician-industry relationships. N Engl J Med 2007 Apr 26;356(17):1742-50.
• Chimonas S, Brennan TA, Rothman DJ.  Physicians and drug representatives: Exploring the dynamics of the relationship. J Gen Intern Med 2007 Feb;22(2):184-90.
• Kennedy SP, Bormann BJ.  Effective partnering of academic and physician scientists with the pharmaceutical drug development industry. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2006 Dec;231(11):1690-4.
• Wofford JL, Ohl CA. Teaching appropriate interactions with pharmaceutical company representatives: The impact of an innovative workshop on student attitudes. BMC Med Educ 2005 Feb 8;5(1):5.
• Brody H.  The company we keep: Why physicians should refuse to see pharmaceutical representatives. Ann Fam Med 2005 Jan-Feb;3(1):82-5.
• Wazana A.  Physicians and the pharmaceutical industry: Is a gift ever just a gift? JAMA 2000 Jan 19;283(3):373-80.  

Funding of Continuing Health Education: Open Access Articles

The following articles are available free online from CACHE’s Open Access Library:

• Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA). American Medical Association. Report 1 of The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs: Industry Support of Professional Education in Medicine.[2008]
• Mamdani B. The ethics of industry support for professional education in medicine. Indian J Med Ethics 2008 Oct-Dec;5(4):177-80.
• Sears J. Implementing the Recommendations of the AAMC Task Force on Industry Funding of Medical Education: A Selected Policy Language Compendium. Washington: Association of American Medical Colleges, 2008.
• Industry Funding of Medical Education: Report of an AAMC Task Force. Washington: Association of American Medical Colleges, 2008.
• Cervero RM, He J. The Relationship between Commercial Support and Bias in Continuing Medical Education Activities: A Review of the Literature. June 2008.
• Continuing Education in the Health Professions: Improving Healthcare Through Lifelong Learning. A Conference Sponsored by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 2008.
• Hebert PC. The need for an Institute of Continuing Health Education [editorial]. CMAJ March 25 2008;178(7):805-806.
• Letters in response to Hebert. 2008.