How to stop worrying about writing and learn to love it!

1. How to stop worrying about writing and learn to love it! Mark H. Ebell, M.D., M.S. Editor-in-chief, Essential Evidence Deputy Editor, American Family Physician Former Editor-in-chief, Journal of Family Practice

2. Objectives • Ebell (9 am to 11:30 am) • Learn who does what at a journal and the editorial process • How to write for the medical literature • Writing a great research article • Lunch (11:30 am to 12:30 pm) • Whalen (12:30 pm to 3:00 pm) • Approach to writing • Audience Coherence Emphasis (ACE) • Grant writing 101

3. But first… • What do you think of when someone asks you to write something? • Previous writing experiences? • Spend a few minutes writing down some ideas for articles

4. How I got involved in editing… • Author: about 220 peer reviewed articles and 7 books • Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Family Practice (2000-2002) – circulation 90,000 • Deputy Editor of American Family Physician (2002 - present) – circulation 190,000 • Editor in chief of Essential Evidence, an online reference with 750 chapters for physicians • Have edited over 1200 chapters or articles in the past 10 years. Whew!

5. Who’s who at a journal Publisher Executive or Managing Editor Staff Editors Art Department Editor-in-chief Deputy Editor Associate and Assistant editors Editorial Board “Editorial Firewall

6. The Publisher • Responsible for the business side of operations • Pays the bills! • Sells advertising • Hires and fires the editor

7. Executive or Managing editor • Responsible for getting journal out on time, without errors • Helps editor strategize ways to develop features and build readership • Supervises other staff editors • Can be a bridge from publisher to medical editor

8. Staff editors (aka senior editor, copyeditor) • Make sure articles are properly formatted • Correct grammatical errors • May prepare manuscripts for word publishing software (I.e. Quark or Pagemaker) by inserting codes • Improve readability of the manuscript while maintaining scientific integrity.

9. Art Department • Prepares tables and figures for publication, working with editors • Formats materials for the Web site • Helps design templates for the overall look of the journal

10. Editor-in-chief • Selects other editors and editorial board • Decides whether to send for peer review or reject • Evaluates peer reviews and decides on initial rejection or revision • Evaluates revised manuscript • Paid by publisher, but also works for readers and authors Jay Siwek, MD Barry Weiss, MD, MS Jeff Susman, MD Marjorie Bowman, MD, MBA Kurt Stange, MD, PhD

11. Deputy, Associate and Assistant Editors • Supervise “features” • Manage and edit individual manuscripts • Read peer reviews, carefully review manuscript, and write detailed letter to author • Review revised manuscript and decide whether to accept or ask for second revision • Work closely with authors and staff editors • Are usually scientists, researchers, or physicians

12. Editorial Board • Selected to represent the specialty in the context of this journal’s mission • Provides guidance and feedback to the editor on editorial policy and content • Expected to do some peer reviews • Should encourage peers to submit work, and submit their own as well

13. Example of the editorial process (AFP): “What happens to my precious manuscript!” • AFP’s mission: • To provide high quality continuing medical education for more than 190,000 family physicians and other primary care clinicians • Best read journal in the world • Readership = Subscribers x Percent reading it = 190,000 x 40%

14. No No

15. Editorial process • Submission:You send your article to the journal’s email address. The Editorial Assistant logs it and assigns a manuscript number and passes to the Editor-In-Chief • Initial decision:The Editor decides whether to send the article out for peer review. Your article will either be: • Rejected (usually quickly) OR • Sent for peer review and assigned to a medical editor

16. Editorial process • Peer reviews obtained (2-4) • Associate or Deputy Editor reads peer reviews, carefully edits article, and drafts “revision letter” describing requested changes • Author is asked to revise manuscript and resubmit it, responding to each suggestion by either accepting it or explaining why they reject it

17. Editorial Process • Revised manuscript is reviewed by Associate or Deputy editor • Quiz questions are added • Sometimes final scientific queries to author • Usually sent to main office at that point for final look by editor-in-chief • Then sent to Kansas City where a staff manuscript editor works on manuscript to improve style and content and art is added

18. Editorial process • Final acceptance – congrats! But wait, there’s more! • Copyediting: Copyediting is for grammar and consistency of style. The copyeditor is not your enemy! • Typesetting: Your manuscript is set into page proofs. This is exactly what your article will look like when published. • Proofreading and Author’s Final Review: The page proofs are proofread for any mistakes that may have occurred during typesetting. Then they are sent to you for a final review.

19. Typical research journal • Of 1000 articles submitted: • 600 are rejected before peer review, by the editor • 400 are peer reviewed • 150 get “revise and reconsider” • 100 are finally accepted • Submission to rejection/peer review decision: 0 – 4 weeks • Peer review and medical editor: 1 to 6 months • Acceptance to publication: 6 to12 months

20. Increasing your chances of success for review and research articles • Choose the right journal • Avoid poor writing, bad grammar • Follow the authorguidelines • Get a local mentor and at least one good proofreader; co-author with experienced writer.

21. What is a Journal’s Audience and Mission? • What is a journal’s audience? • Practitioners? • Researchers? • What is a journal’s mission? • Research? • General research? • Disease specific? • Educational research? • Education? • Evidence-based practice? • Spend some time reading issues of your target journals • Ask colleagues for advice

22. What are some of your ideas for articles?

23. Thanks! Questions?