Writing for publication: increasing the likelihood of success

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to help writers at all levels improve their likelihood of success in having papers accepted by academic peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Interprofessional Care. We discuss the importance of reading both in your own discipline and also more widely across disciplines and fields of study. There are sections on the attributes of good authors, how to choose a journal, types of articles that are published and the structure of these, the contrast between research and evaluation, and how to plan a paper. We stress the importance of reading and complying with a journal’s author guidelines and answering the ‘so what’ question by the end of the article. There is more detail about the main elements of a paper and what should be included in the introduction, methods, results (findings) and discussion to improve the quality of the reporting. As well as content we also focus on the style of writing. We finish with a discussion of the submission and review processes, why papers may be rejected and how to manage decisions on papers. Dissemination of scholarly work is paramount to the advancement of the interprofessional field; we invite authors to consider our advice and in so doing help strengthen the quality and rigor of interprofessional scholarship.

KEYWORDS:

• Research
• evaluation
• scholarship
• writing
• interprofessional evaluation
• interprofessional research
• dissemination

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jill E. Thistlethwaite

Jill Thistlethwaite is an adjunct professor at UTS, a medical adviser for NPS MedicineWise and clinical chair for the hospital non-specialist training program (HNSP) with HETI (Health Education Training Institute) in New South Wales, Australia. She is an associate editor of JIC and editor of The Clinical Teacher.  Her published work includes books, chapters and peer-reviewed papers, particularly focussing on interprofessional education, professionalism, communication skills and women's health.

Elizabeth Anderson

Professor Elizabeth Anderson (Liz) has led on patient safety and interprofessional learning and educational research at Leicester Medical School for twenty years. She also leads the Patient and Carer group to support patient-centred learning initiatives throughout health and social student professional curriculum. She is an associate editor at JIC.