Getting your manuscript published (Open Session 28)

This was a great panel discussion about the details that give your manuscripts an edge in the eyes of the reviewers or editors. Marianne Mallia served as moderator. Her panelists were an author’s editor and journal editor in-chief.

Christine Wogan, MS, ELS, the author’s editor, from the UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, phrased her take-home messages for other author’s editors clearly:

• Pick your battles.
• Hook 'em.
• Give 'em what they want.
• Make it easy on them.

She provided a variety of tips for assisting authors. Read the paper thoroughly for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Make sure that the paper is written at the proper level of understanding. By targeting the paper to a specific journal and following the instructions to authors, the manuscript’s chances for acceptance improves. She emphasized that manuscripts must tell a story in a linear fashion. She suggested writing the abstract first – but editing it last.


Dr. William Roberts, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology, provided the journal editor’s perspective. His first suggestion was that papers must have something to say. He also suggested that authors study the masters. Look at the work of others in the field, specifically those who have published on a particular topic for decades. These authors are the "survivors." Some of his other suggestions:

• The tables and figures should be complete and tell the story.
• Spend time on the paper’s title; the title should not be declarative.
• The introduction should be much shorter than most authors want to make it.
• The methods section should be in exquisite detail so that the study is reproducible from the materials and methods section.
• The results section also should be very detailed.

When asked about appealing rejections, he said that it was appropriate only if authors could make their case in writing. Phone calls in this situation are not appropriate.

This session will be covered in more detail in a forthcoming issue of the AMWA Journal.

-- Kristi A. Boehm