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Further reading and links

This page contains links to useful external sites giving advice on all aspects of submitting and reviewing a manuscript, including analysis of the Peer review process and general writing assistance. It also serves as a repository for guidelines and forms found elsewhere in the site. We would be happy to include other articles you may have found useful in this list. Please sti{at}bmjgroup.com with details.
>  Guidelines and forms
>  Research conduct
>  Peer review
>  Writing assistance
Guidelines and forms
  1. BMJ guidelines on presenting statistics

  2. Statistical guidance for contributors (PDF)

  3. BMJ style guidelines

  4. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to medical journals

  5. Competing interest declaration: BMJ guidelines

  6. Competing interest editorial. BMJ 1998;317:291-2

  7. CONSORT statement

  8. STROBE statement

  9. Quorum statement. Lancet 1999; 354:1896-1900. (subscription required)

  10. MOOSE initiative (meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology) (PDF)

  11. STARD initiative (PDF)

  12. BMJ's guidelines for economic evaluation submissions

  13. BMJ's guidelines for educational interventions

  14. BMJ's guidelines for qualitative submissions

  15. Ethics approval: Declaration of Helsinki

  16. MRC good research practice (PDF)

  17. COPE guidelines: Study design and ethical approval

  18. Central Office for Research Ethics Committees (UK)

  19. Good Clinical Practice in FDA trials (USA)

  20. Responsible Conduct of Research NIH (USA)

  21. BMJ Ethics Committee

  22. Confidentiality & disclosure of health information

  23. GMC's revised guidance for confidentiality.

  24. Check journal abbreviations using PubMed

  25. Check your citation information using PubMed

  26. Check your citation information using MeSH
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Research conduct
  1. Readability of British and American medical prose. BMJ 2003;326:711 (29 March) [Free Full Text].

  2. Why clinical information standards matter. BMJ 2003;326:1101-1102 (24 May) [Free Full Text].

  3. The function of the discussion section in academic medical writing. BMJ 2000;320:1269-1270 (6 May) [Free Full Text].

  4. Designing a research project: randomised controlled trials and their principles. Emerg Med J 2003;20:164-168 [Abstract].

  5. Better reporting of randomised controlled trials: the CONSORT statement. BMJ 1996;313:570-571 [Free Full Text].

  6. Why certain systematic reviews reach uncertain conclusions. BMJ 2003;326:756-758 (5 April) [Free Full Text].

  7. Statistical consideration for research. Emerg Med J 2003;20:258-262 [Abstract].

  8. The Politics of publication. Nature 2003;422:259-261 (20 Mar) [Subscription Required].

  9. Consensus and contention regarding redundant publications in clinical research: cross-sectional survey of editors and author. J Med Ethics 2003;29:109-114 [Free Full Text].
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Peer review
  1. To review or not to review, that is the question. Br J Sports Med 2002;36:80-81 [Free Full Text].

  2. An international peer review system for a Chinese scientific journal. Learned Publishing 2003;26(2):91-94 [Free Full Text].

  3. Peer review: recognition via year-end statements. Nature (London) 2003;423:116 (8 May) [Subscription Required].

  4. Peer review and the rewards of open access. Nature 2003;422:661 (10 Apr) [Subscription Required].

  5. Sometimes it's the ref who fouls out. Physics Today 2003 56(1):20-22 [Free Full Text]

  6. Fifth international congress on peer review and biomedical publication. BMJ 2003;326:563-564 [Free Full Text].

  7. Fourth international congress on peer review in biomedical publication. JAMA 2002;287:2759-2760 [Abstract].
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Writing assistance
Disclaimer: The BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. is not responsible for the content of these sites and does not provide any financial compensation if any of these services are employed.
Tim Albert Training: www.timalbert.co.uk

Summary: We provide in-house and open (or public) courses. The main topics are effective writing, writing for scientific journals, editing peer-reviewed journals and setting up newsletters. All our courses are based on the fact that there are rules that can help writers, no matter what they are involved in and who the target audience will be. We concentrate on the process of writing.
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Dianthus Medical Limited: www.dianthus.co.uk

Summary: Our expertise is in analysing and presenting data and writing up the findings. We can also assist you in the presentation of these findings at conferences. We can apply finishing touches to [your draft article to] make it ready for publication, or perhaps some brief advice on statistical matters.
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Authorserv: www.authorserv.com

Summary: We offer a complete range of prepress services directly to authors. Services such as: language correction, image preparation, permissions, and more.

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Academicword: www.academicword.com

Summary: We specialise in the editing and translating of academic texts in the life sciences. We are particularly attuned to the needs of non-native English speakers. Authors may visit our website for complete information about our services and to request a free editing sample.
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Medical Journalists Association: www.mja-uk.org

Summary: The MJA exists to support and encourage its members and enable them to work efficiently and at high levels of accuracy.

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Books:

  1. How to write a paper
    ed Hall, George M.
    pub: BMJ Publishing Group, BMJ Books.
    31 Oct 2003
    ISBN: 0727917285

    How to write a paper edited by George Hall is the definitive guide to writing for medical journals.

  2. SI Units for Clinical Measurement
    Young, Donald S., Hurth, Edward J.
    pub: American College of Physicians
    31 Mar 1998
    ISBN: 0943126517

    A manual for anyone preparing a paper using SI units, or converting reported literature into metric units, guiding their hospital into the use of SI units, or travelling and needing a reference.

  3. Randomised Controlled Trials
    Jadad, Alejandro R.
    pub: BMJ Publishing Group BMJ Books
    14 Sep 1998
    ISBN: 0727912089

    Written for those interested in the use of RCTs in clinical, research or policy decisions.

  4. A-Z of Medical Writing
    Albert, Tim
    pub: BMJ Publishing Group BMJ Books
    27 Mar 2000
    ISBN: 0727914871

    A practical guide to helping doctors and health professionals with their writing problems.

You can buy these books at Blackwell's online.

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