THE ABC OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR A SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE

Abstract

Good communication skills are essential for the medical profession. Almost all training programmes now have mandatory communication skills including that of FCPS training programme. The communication skills include both written and verbal communications. However, it is surprising to note that there is very little, if any training in written communication skills. In a review of literature, it was found that only 15 of 101 medical schools in US offered formal writing courses.1 This may be alarming in English speaking countries but is of greatest concerns to developing countries like Pakistan, where English is not the first language. This lack of training in written communication skills results in poor communication in all aspects of medical field. This varies from a simple call to a physician colleague seeking his/her opinion, to writing an article for scientific publications. The author has the experience of teaching a module devoted to scientific writings in an MHR (Master in Health Research) programme of a medical university. This programme usually has well qualified students, some who have completed the FCPS. It is rather disappointing to observe the lack of knowledge regarding simple steps in scientific writing. They have lot of very valuable data, but can’t put the same in clear language to convey the meaning of the data. Therefore, I have decided to focus on the scientific writing for this inaugural issue of the Northwest Journal of Medical sciences.
Most of the scientific writing in medical journals is concerned about the original articles, something which most faculty members require essentially for promotion in their careers. The other types of articles such as case reports, systematic reviews, correspondence are equally important but are not recognized by PMDC for the sake of promotion. The case reports and letters to editor are very important for the beginners in scientific publications and can be helpful as stepping stone for the more demanding types of scientific papers such as original articles. These usually do not require much data. If you have an important point to make or have an unusual case, you can get into the scientific publishing by submitting a letter to the editor or a case report. During the course of teaching in the MHR course, I have devised an ABC of scientific writing. The scientific writing must be accurate and authentic. There is very little room for verbosity, vague language, adjectives; you simply state what you mean. The accuracy in the scientific writing is based on another A, authenticity. You must substantiate you statement by providing evidence. This can be based on your own data or someone’s else, in the latter case you need to cite the reference from the original source. Simply speaking, stick to the facts; speculate sparingly.The B in this ABC stands for being brief and bold. The importance of writing briefly cannot be overemphasized. In fact most problems in our writings are related to the length, whether in a sentence or in the whole piece. The standard advice for a beginner is to write in small sentences. When a sentence gets longer than sixteen words, consider breaking down in two or more sentences. The longer sentences loose the focus and usually have grammatical errors. As mentioned above, simply stating the fact, requires that you are bold in your statements and need not to hide behind vague word or verbosity.
You need to avoid overgeneralizations or sweeping statements but at the same time you need your expression to needs to be bold and clear.
Finally, the good scientific writing needs to be clear and concise. You need to avoid too many rrepetitions of word and themes and remove irrelevant material which is not central to your point. Avoiding meaningless phrases is important. ‘The results are given in Figure1, where it is shown that temperature was directly proportional to metabolic rate…’ can simply be stated as ‘temperature was directly proportional to metabolic rate (Fig.1)’. Another example of meaningless phrase is ‘In order to determine’. Simply it can be written as ‘to determine…’ Other tips to add clarity to your article is have one idea per sentence and using the active rather than the passive voice, when possible. Use simple language. Using unnecessarily complicated lan

guage will confuse the reader and weaken your message. The simple language is usually clearer and is more precise than the complex language. A clear lay out of the article facilitates clear communication. Each paragraph is based on one main theme or idea which needs to be clearly signposted. Having too many ideas in paragraph only confuses the reader. If there are more ideas in a paragraph, it would be better to write two or more linked paragraphs. Finally, when you have completed a paragraph, read carefully to delete unnecessary and vague words and replace them with more specific words.
The original article has four essential sections. The introduction section must explain why you are doing the study i.e. rationale and background to the subject. Methods section must clearly state, how did you do the research in detail, so that others can replicate your work. The results section should elaborate what you found and the discussion section will explain what the results mean (i.e. interpretation of results in the light of current knowledge on the subject. These simple principles of scientific writing can help in producing good articles. Like any other skill, writing accurate, clear and concise scientific English requires practice. Before you put your pen to paper, you need to know the journal you are targeting and who your audience will be? The language and style will differ considerably, if an article on treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is written for a Rheumatology journal or a general medical journal.It is important to develop a clear plan for writing and carefully construct the argument. Once you develop a plan for the paper, share with your colleagues for the feedback. A helpful way to start writing an article is a free writing exercise. Take a blank sheet of paper and write down everything that comes into your head about the subject of the study It doesn’t matter what it’s about or if it makes sense. That will come later. This is for you alone and is a way to empty your mind of everything that is running through it. This will give you a clear idea about what you are going to write. Once you have filled few sheets of paper, you can filter this for relevance and developing a plan on which you will build the article.
It must be realized that getting published is highly competitive, especially at an international level. You need to develop a “thick skin†to have publications accepted in quality journals as there are numerous rejection and resubmission which sometimes requires dealing with highly critical comments. Don’t give up and make sure that you take something constructive from each interaction with reviewers and editors. Finally, it is important to be kind to the editors;they usually have a thankless job. In a nascent journal like this, it is even more difficult. Finding quality articles, peer review and shaping these articles to the journal style is an uphill task. Paying attention to the feedback from reviewers more important and will help you to develop the essential medical writing skills in the long term. The Northwest journal of Medical Sciences will offer a fantastic opportunity for you to start the journey of scientific writings. You only need to have the data, pick up the pen and put the guidance in this article into practice.