Writing and Getting Published

Guidelines by Publication/Study Type

Case Reports: CARE
Randomized Controlled Trials: CONSORT
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: Cochrane Handbook, PRISMA, PROSPERO (for registering systematic reviews)
Scoping Reviews (PRISMA, JBI)
Qualitative Research: SRQR, COREQ
Quality Improvement Studies: SQUIRE
Diagnostic Accuracy Studies: STARD, TRIPOD
Observational Studies in Epidemiology: STROBE
Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology: MOOSE
Animal Research: ARRIVE

Literature Reviews, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-analyses

The Basics of Literature Reviews (PowerPoint)

Literature Reviews (UNC College of Arts & Sciences Writing Center)
An overview of the parts of a literature review and how to structure one. Intended for a general audience and covers humanities and general sciences.

Researching for your literature review (Monash University)
Focused on medical literature and includes information on PICO and combined searching in PubMed.

Grant, Maria J., and Andrew Booth. “A Typology of Reviews: An Analysis of 14 Review Types and Associated Methodologies.” Health Information and Libraries Journal 26, no. 2 (2009):91–108. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.

Are you interested in doing a systematic review? Here’s some information to help you decide if that’s the type of research you want to do. They typically take over a year to complete and require a team of at least three.

Systematic Reviews: the process (Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives)
Overview: Systematic Reviews (Mayo Clinic Libraries)

Statistics

Dawson, Beth, and Robert G. Trapp, eds. Basic & Clinical Biostatistics. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2020.

Gallin, John I., and Frederick P. Ognibene, eds. Principles and Practice of Clinical Research. 3rd ed. Boston: Elsevier/Academic Press, 2012.

Harris, Michael, and Gordon Taylor. Medical Statistics Made Easy. 3rd ed. Banbury, UK: Scion, 2014. Call number: WA 950 H315m 2014

Lang, Thomas A., and Michelle Secic. How to Report Statistics in Medicine: Annotated Guidelines for Authors, Editors, and Reviewers. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians, 2006. Call number: WZ 345 L271h 2006

Writing

Scientific Writing (Duke University)
Information on posters, literature reviews, sections of a paper, citing sources, getting published, and more.

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication

Lang, Thomas A. How to Write, Publish, & Present in the Health Sciences: A Guide for Clinicians & Laboratory Researchers. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians, 2010. Call number: WZ 345 L271ha 2010

Gastel, Barbara, and Robert A. Day. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. 8th ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2016. Call number: WZ 345 G255 2016

Hofmann, Angelika H. Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Call number: WZ 345 H698 2017

AMA Manual of Style Committee.  AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 11th ed. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Zeiger, Mimi. Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2000. Call number: WZ 345 Z46e 2000

Where to Publish

Use these tools to identify and evaluate journals.
Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)
SPI-Hub: Scholarly Publishing Information Hub
SCImago Journal & Country Rank
SHERPA/RoMEO (Publisher copyright policies & self-archiving)
Think, Check, Submit

Open Access journals are a great way to get your research to a wide audience, but beware of predatory and low-quality open access journals. See our Open Access subject guide for more information. Before paying a submission fee, or if you have questions about a specific journal or publisher, please contact the library.

Predatory publishers are publishers that mimic open access journals, but are actually scams designed to extort money from authors. You can learn more about the difference between open access and predatory publishing on our Moodle page.