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How to Get Your Paper Published in JVIR
FROM THE EDITOR
How to Get Your Paper Published in JVIR Ziv J Haskal, MD (Editor-in-Chief, JVIR), and Elena Coler (Assistant Managing Editor, JVIR) ABBREVIATION COI = conflict of interest
Here are some tips on how to best design and write a paper that will be published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) and have lasting impact on readers and researchers.
GENERAL ADVICE
Overinterpretation of results, ie, overreaching conclusions that are unsupported by data.
Inappropriate or suboptimal methods of testing/data collection.
Sample size too small or biased. Text difficult to follow because of poor language, including word choice, incorrect grammar, spelling, or usage.
Have Something Important to Say Make sure your topic is in some way new, innovative, or important.
Use the Introduction to build a “case” by pointing
out its scientific merit. Review the predicate literature, identify the gaps, and explain how your research advances existing knowledge. Do not assume readers (or reviewers) will naturally know. Finish your Introduction with a hypothesis or purpose statement. “Reporting one’s experience,” alone, is not a sufficient purpose.
Know Why Manuscripts Get Rejected Lack of a stated clear purpose or hypothesis. Inaccurate or inconsistent data reported. Inaccurate or outdated review of literature or cita-
Why Is Language Important? Incorrect use or language may confuse or confound
tions that do not match or support the text.
Insufficient data presented. Defective tables or figures, numerical or statistical inconsistencies.
From the Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging (Z.JH.), University of Virginia, 1215 Lee St., Charlottesville, VA 22908; and Society of Interventional Radiology (E.C.), Fairfax, Virginia. Received July 27, 2015; final revision received and accepted July 28, 2015. Address correspondence to Z.JH.; E-mail: [email protected] Z.JH. is a paid consultant for Covidien (Dublin, Ireland), Penumbra (Alameda, California), W.L. Gore & Associates (Flagstaff, Arizona), and Bard Peripheral Vascular (Tempe, Arizona). The other author has not identified a conflict of interest.
Avoid Leaning into Grandiosity In general, do not claim primacy, impact, and scope
& SIR, 2015 J Vasc Interv Radiol 2015; 26:1456–1458 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2015.07.027
the reviewers, and block or delay the publication of your paper. Do not assume the editors, reviewers, or publisher will correct your language. Run your manuscript by a colleague fluent in English before submission or consider professional language editing (also available at http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices/ languageediting/). Be aware of the sentence structure you use. ○ Write neutrally and concisely. Avoid casual, colloquial verbiage. ○ Construct your sentences in direct, factual bursts. Use short sentences—often only about 12–17 words. ○ Use one piece of information per sentence. ○ Use the past tense for reporting methods and results. Describe what actually took place, not what typically occurs. Revise, revise, and revise. Concise expression is essential.
beyond that of the research (eg, “This is the first report that…”; “This has not previously been described.”; “This is the first description of…”) Your results will speak for themselves without such claims. Do not overstate or overinterpret your results. Modesty is important in science. Studies bear replication.
Volume 26
’
Number 10
’
October
’
2015
Be Rigorous and Honest in Stating Study Limitations Stating study limitations will not diminish your chances of acceptance—it might even improve them and define the roadmap to subsequent research, adding value. Detail them in the penultimate paragraph of your manuscript.
Beware of Unwitting Authorship Pressure to publish or curry favor may lead to
SPECIFICS Follow the Journal’s Instructions for Authors Review the different article types, their respective
inclusion of unsupported collateral authorship without the coauthors’ permission. Obtain all coauthors’ permission to include their names on the author list, and ensure a meaningful role (and duty) for each.
Disclose Conflicts of Interest JVIR subscribes to the International Committee of
1457
Medical Journal Editors conflict of interest (COI) disclosure policy. JVIR does not accept submissions without a COI declaration. Complete the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors COI disclosure form on JVIR’s submission site as part of your submission. Visit www.ees.elsevier.com/jvir/ for details.
Educate Yourself on Publishing Misconduct Understand publishing ethics and how to avoid
requirements, and determine which format suits your research. Review similar published papers in JVIR and mimic formats as needed—know the journal to which you’re submitting. Conform to Society of Interventional Radiology Reporting Standards documents and complication grading where applicable. Uniformity of reporting allows readers and researchers to compare your data with other publications and extrapolate it to their own practices, and can increase its impact in the long term.
Use a Compelling Title Aim to attract readers’ attention. Identify the main focus of your paper, but make the title concise and to the point.
Make the Abstract Interesting and Understandable This is the advertisement of your article. Keep in
mind that the abstract may be the only thing a researcher may see in PubMed and base a decision whether to download the full version of your paper. Make the abstract concise, accurate, and specific. Make sure it includes actual details of the research and outcomes. JVIR seeks detailed, data-dense abstracts, rather than general narrative text.
misconduct.
Understand the risks and varieties of plagiarism and self-plagiarism.
Suggested resources: www.elsevier.com/editors/publish ing-ethics and http://publicationethics.org/resources/ guidelines.
Make Materials and Methods Focused and Detailed Describe how the problem was studied. Include
Create Editor-Friendly Revision Letters Fully engage in the revision process. Make your point-by-point revision letter as detailed as possible. Simply stating “corrected” or “changed” in the letter is not ideal because it requires the editors to search the manuscripts word by word to determine how and whether suitable changes were actually made. Instead, state how and why you made changes, and paste the actual changed text into your revision letter. This can markedly expedite your paper’s progress. If you disagree with reviewers’ points, use your letter to defend your position. Controversy is acceptable. The literature has room for this.
detailed information on the nature of the subjects, methods of selection, materials, and all procedures. One need not report which analyses were done when their conduct is plainly obvious in the Results. However, do not scrimp on describing the statistical methods used. Identify the equipment and describe materials used, including manufacturers’ names and locations (city and state or country). Readers should be able to reproduce your study methods.
Make Results Clear and Easy to Understand Highlight the main findings and feature unexpected findings.
1458
’
How to Get Your Paper Published in JVIR
Haskal and Coler
Report your results in a natural temporal order, or in
Use it to indicate the importance of the findings, their implications, and limitations. The Discussion is a synthesis of your research and previous work. Place yours into larger perspective, highlight how it differs from prior work, provide evidence tables when useful, and include critical analysis. Highlight technical or other outcomes or caveats and observations about your findings that reflect
JVIR
interpretations of the data—ie, items that do not belong in the Results section, but are essential to impart or explain to readers.
the order of your study endpoints. Provide statistical analyses where suitable.
Make Your Discussion Larger Than Your Research Do not use the Discussion to reiterate your results.
’
Use References Correctly Nothing tips off an editor more than sloppy use
of citations whose source papers do not actually contain the cited information—it raises questions of author scientific rigor, research methods, and ethics. Use strong primary source references; perform detailed reference searches and review of prior literature. Cite references where needed: no unsupported remarks. Avoid excessive self-citation (unless truly relevant).
How to Get Your Paper Published in JVIR Ziv J Haskal, MD (Editor-in-Chief, JVIR), and Elena Coler (Assistant Managing Editor, JVIR) ABBREVIATION COI = conflict of interest
Here are some tips on how to best design and write a paper that will be published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) and have lasting impact on readers and researchers.
GENERAL ADVICE
Overinterpretation of results, ie, overreaching conclusions that are unsupported by data.
Inappropriate or suboptimal methods of testing/data collection.
Sample size too small or biased. Text difficult to follow because of poor language, including word choice, incorrect grammar, spelling, or usage.
Have Something Important to Say Make sure your topic is in some way new, innovative, or important.
Use the Introduction to build a “case” by pointing
out its scientific merit. Review the predicate literature, identify the gaps, and explain how your research advances existing knowledge. Do not assume readers (or reviewers) will naturally know. Finish your Introduction with a hypothesis or purpose statement. “Reporting one’s experience,” alone, is not a sufficient purpose.
Know Why Manuscripts Get Rejected Lack of a stated clear purpose or hypothesis. Inaccurate or inconsistent data reported. Inaccurate or outdated review of literature or cita-
Why Is Language Important? Incorrect use or language may confuse or confound
tions that do not match or support the text.
Insufficient data presented. Defective tables or figures, numerical or statistical inconsistencies.
From the Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging (Z.JH.), University of Virginia, 1215 Lee St., Charlottesville, VA 22908; and Society of Interventional Radiology (E.C.), Fairfax, Virginia. Received July 27, 2015; final revision received and accepted July 28, 2015. Address correspondence to Z.JH.; E-mail: [email protected] Z.JH. is a paid consultant for Covidien (Dublin, Ireland), Penumbra (Alameda, California), W.L. Gore & Associates (Flagstaff, Arizona), and Bard Peripheral Vascular (Tempe, Arizona). The other author has not identified a conflict of interest.
Avoid Leaning into Grandiosity In general, do not claim primacy, impact, and scope
& SIR, 2015 J Vasc Interv Radiol 2015; 26:1456–1458 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2015.07.027
the reviewers, and block or delay the publication of your paper. Do not assume the editors, reviewers, or publisher will correct your language. Run your manuscript by a colleague fluent in English before submission or consider professional language editing (also available at http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices/ languageediting/). Be aware of the sentence structure you use. ○ Write neutrally and concisely. Avoid casual, colloquial verbiage. ○ Construct your sentences in direct, factual bursts. Use short sentences—often only about 12–17 words. ○ Use one piece of information per sentence. ○ Use the past tense for reporting methods and results. Describe what actually took place, not what typically occurs. Revise, revise, and revise. Concise expression is essential.
beyond that of the research (eg, “This is the first report that…”; “This has not previously been described.”; “This is the first description of…”) Your results will speak for themselves without such claims. Do not overstate or overinterpret your results. Modesty is important in science. Studies bear replication.
Volume 26
’
Number 10
’
October
’
2015
Be Rigorous and Honest in Stating Study Limitations Stating study limitations will not diminish your chances of acceptance—it might even improve them and define the roadmap to subsequent research, adding value. Detail them in the penultimate paragraph of your manuscript.
Beware of Unwitting Authorship Pressure to publish or curry favor may lead to
SPECIFICS Follow the Journal’s Instructions for Authors Review the different article types, their respective
inclusion of unsupported collateral authorship without the coauthors’ permission. Obtain all coauthors’ permission to include their names on the author list, and ensure a meaningful role (and duty) for each.
Disclose Conflicts of Interest JVIR subscribes to the International Committee of
1457
Medical Journal Editors conflict of interest (COI) disclosure policy. JVIR does not accept submissions without a COI declaration. Complete the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors COI disclosure form on JVIR’s submission site as part of your submission. Visit www.ees.elsevier.com/jvir/ for details.
Educate Yourself on Publishing Misconduct Understand publishing ethics and how to avoid
requirements, and determine which format suits your research. Review similar published papers in JVIR and mimic formats as needed—know the journal to which you’re submitting. Conform to Society of Interventional Radiology Reporting Standards documents and complication grading where applicable. Uniformity of reporting allows readers and researchers to compare your data with other publications and extrapolate it to their own practices, and can increase its impact in the long term.
Use a Compelling Title Aim to attract readers’ attention. Identify the main focus of your paper, but make the title concise and to the point.
Make the Abstract Interesting and Understandable This is the advertisement of your article. Keep in
mind that the abstract may be the only thing a researcher may see in PubMed and base a decision whether to download the full version of your paper. Make the abstract concise, accurate, and specific. Make sure it includes actual details of the research and outcomes. JVIR seeks detailed, data-dense abstracts, rather than general narrative text.
misconduct.
Understand the risks and varieties of plagiarism and self-plagiarism.
Suggested resources: www.elsevier.com/editors/publish ing-ethics and http://publicationethics.org/resources/ guidelines.
Make Materials and Methods Focused and Detailed Describe how the problem was studied. Include
Create Editor-Friendly Revision Letters Fully engage in the revision process. Make your point-by-point revision letter as detailed as possible. Simply stating “corrected” or “changed” in the letter is not ideal because it requires the editors to search the manuscripts word by word to determine how and whether suitable changes were actually made. Instead, state how and why you made changes, and paste the actual changed text into your revision letter. This can markedly expedite your paper’s progress. If you disagree with reviewers’ points, use your letter to defend your position. Controversy is acceptable. The literature has room for this.
detailed information on the nature of the subjects, methods of selection, materials, and all procedures. One need not report which analyses were done when their conduct is plainly obvious in the Results. However, do not scrimp on describing the statistical methods used. Identify the equipment and describe materials used, including manufacturers’ names and locations (city and state or country). Readers should be able to reproduce your study methods.
Make Results Clear and Easy to Understand Highlight the main findings and feature unexpected findings.
1458
’
How to Get Your Paper Published in JVIR
Haskal and Coler
Report your results in a natural temporal order, or in
Use it to indicate the importance of the findings, their implications, and limitations. The Discussion is a synthesis of your research and previous work. Place yours into larger perspective, highlight how it differs from prior work, provide evidence tables when useful, and include critical analysis. Highlight technical or other outcomes or caveats and observations about your findings that reflect
JVIR
interpretations of the data—ie, items that do not belong in the Results section, but are essential to impart or explain to readers.
the order of your study endpoints. Provide statistical analyses where suitable.
Make Your Discussion Larger Than Your Research Do not use the Discussion to reiterate your results.
’
Use References Correctly Nothing tips off an editor more than sloppy use
of citations whose source papers do not actually contain the cited information—it raises questions of author scientific rigor, research methods, and ethics. Use strong primary source references; perform detailed reference searches and review of prior literature. Cite references where needed: no unsupported remarks. Avoid excessive self-citation (unless truly relevant).