Winning the Publications Game: How to Write a Medical Paper Without Neglecting Your Patients

by Tim Albert, Matthias Egger (Foreword), Nicola Low (Foreword)

Intracorporeal suturing is one of the most difficult procedures that surgeons must acquire before embarking upon laparoscopic surgery. This programme is derived from the author's internationally-known training course on technique and dexterity skills. It combines interactive video, graphics, text, voice-over and self-examination tests, all under the user's control simply by using the mouse to select the options presented on the screen. Separate versions are available for Macintosh or IBM-compatible computers with CD-ROM drives. (Please specify which version is required when ordering). Each disc is accompanied by an easy-to-follow user guide and further technical support is provided by the program developers, Piedmont Systems Inc.

128 pages, Paperback

Published December 25, 2008

About the author

My first published work was in 1964 when I won a school prize for an angst-ridden sonnet about climbing up a municipal rubbish dump.
My latest work is somewhat lighter - it describes a repeat trip I took around the United States on Greyhound buses after a gap of 50 years.
In between I have had one career as a journalist writing for local, national and medical publications - and another as a communications trainer, trying (with limited success) to persuade doctors and other health professionals that they do not need to write in pompous prose.
I have published four books on medical writing, a memoir and a travel book. I live in in Surrey, England with a saintly wife and a needy garden.

Reviews

[Sean]

This is one of those seemingly short books that is actually packed with content. Rather than bore the reader with platitudes about science and style, the author answers the questions that you really want answered. How do I get published asap? What do I put in the letter? What does a good letter actually look like, and how, specifically, does it differ from a bad one? A good style is the one that your target journal wants, because that's the style that gets you published. A good letter is harder to describe in this review, but the author provides an actual example of a good one and a bad one in the book. And getting yourself published depends at least as much on marketing your work effectively to your target journal, as it does on actually doing good work.

It's pleasant to read, and refreshingly devoid the cringe-worthy bragging that has become typical of the genre. To be honest I found it to be a real page turner, and finished it in an evening. Overall this is one of the best books I've read on the topic of getting published in medical journals.