A brief guide to the science and art of writing manuscripts in biomedicine

Abstract

Publishing articles in international scientific journals is the primary method for the communication of validated research findings and ideas. Journal articles are commonly used as a major input for evaluations of researchers and institutions. Few articles have been published previously about the different aspects needed for writing high-quality articles. In this manuscript, we provide an updated and brief guide for the multiple dimensions needed for writing manuscripts in the health and biological sciences, from current, international and interdisciplinary perspectives and from our expertise as authors, peer reviewers and editors. We provide key suggestions for writing major sections of the manuscript (e.g. title, abstract, introduction, methods, results and discussion), for submitting the manuscript and bring an overview of the peer review process and of the post-publication impact of the articles.

The importance of adherence to international standards for depositing open data in public repositories

“…Finally, there is an important need to strength capacities in the biomedical personnel (particularly in emerging economies), in topics such as: data science, open data repositories, data intelligence, data protection regulations with multidisciplinary teams and collaboration between key stakeholders. As a very high number of publications about Open Science is written by authors from the Global North [ 8 ], it is needed to have more international articles about Open Data from the Global South [ 1 , 4 , 52 ].…”

“…There is an important global interest in Open Science, which include open data and methods, in addition to open access (OA) publications [ 1 , 2 ]. Several funding agencies in the United States and in Europe have mandates for open data generated in the research projects they support.…”

Dear author: what are the quality criteria for publishing a clinical practice protocol?

“…Academic articles come in a variety of shapes and sizes, each designed to fit research studies published at different stages, in different fields, and to share different aspects of the work". [20][21][22][23] The uncertainty of publishing a scientific research study can be even greater when it is associated with a protocol, guide or guideline, which often, in their original design, aimed at solving, preventing or improving some process or activity in the 'world of work', that is, in their initial design stages, those involved did not intend to publish a scientific article. Thus, the question: 'Is it relevant to publish a protocol developed by a hospital, pharmacy, family health unit or other service?'…”

Open science practices for eating disorders research

“…Scientific journals play an important role in ensuring that science is, indeed, open, both in terms of access (e.g., open versus restricted) and transparency (e.g., reporting guidelines). Numerous journals, including the International Journal of Eating Disorders (IJED, see Table 1), have updated their policies and provided resources consistent with the open science framework (Alter & Gonzalez, 2018;Forero, Lopez-Leon, & Perry, 2020;Freedland, 2021;Hildebrandt & Crosby, 2018;Hildebrandt & Prenoveau, 2020;Martone, Garcia-Castro, & VandenBos, 2018;Munafò et al, 2017;Nosek et al, 2015;Prager et al, 2019;Tackett, Brandes, King, & Markon, 2019;Tackett, Brandes, & Reardon, 2019). Also, some journals reward open science practices by placing "open research badges" on articles (see https://www.cos.io/initiatives/badges).…”