Scientific writing A.H. Mehrparvar Occupational Medicine Department

Why Do We Write?  To distribute what we find  To present what we know  To promote  To earn money  To enjoy  To expand mankind knowledge  To …… 2

 Manuscript  Article

Types of articles  Investigations  Hypotheses  Literature Reviews  Clinical Procedures  Case Reports  Case Reviews/Series  Technical Reports 4

 Editorials  Commentary  Letters to the Editor  Conference Reports 5

Investigations (original article)  Reports of new research findings into the enhancement factors of health, causal aspects of disease, and the establishment of clinical efficacies of related diagnostic and therapeutic procedures  the mainstay of scientific publication 6

Hypotheses  Preliminary studies which may establish a solid basis for further in-depth investigations  pilot studies, where the feasibility of doing a larger project is studied  Few articles of this kind 7

Literature Reviews  Critical assessments of current knowledge of a particular subject of interest  emphasis on better correlation  pointing to the ambiguities, and the delineation of areas which may constitute areas for further study 8

Literature Reviews  There are 3 types of literature reviews: Descriptive reviews Systematic reviews Meta-analytic reviews 9

Descriptive reviews:  an overview of a topic so that a clinician can gather information about the diagnosis and/or treatment of a condition or a scientist can gather information about a particular area of research  to provide a synopsis of the existing literature  The information often biased

Systematic review  a specific search strategy is used to identify papers of interest  the method of selecting from the papers that were identified is provided

Meta-analysis  to abstract data and combine it so that one can draw conclusions about a specific research question  Information is often presented as odds ratios

Case Reports Accounts of the diagnosis and treatment of unusual, difficult, or otherwise interesting cases which may have independent educational value or may contribute to better standardization of care for a particular health problem when correlated with similar reports of others 13

Case Reviews (case series)  A retrospective comparative assessment of the diagnosis and treatment of several cases of a similar condition, ie, the comparative evaluation of two or more (perhaps hundreds) of case reports 14

Technical Reports  The reporting and evaluation of new or improved equipment or procedures, or the critical evaluation of old equipment or procedures which have not been critically evaluated 15

Editorials The presentation of points-of-view or opinion relating to the editorial purpose of a journal, the emphasizing of evidential support for the fulfillment of that purpose, or the discussion of related controversial issues 16

Letters to the Editor Communications which are directed specifically to the editor which critically assess some aspect of the journal, particularly as such assessment may add to, clarify, or point-up a deficiency in a recently published paper; authors are afforded the privilege of a counter-reponse 17

Conference Reports  Documentation of related scientific conferences, particularly abstracts of presentations, prior to their publication in a proceedings volume or elsewhere 18